Abyssal Path
by Exile Wrath
Summary: Inspector-turned-Enforcer Tsunemori Akane maintained a Crime Coefficient of 120 on purpose, so then she could work on the side of the law and not draw any questions as she hunted for the man that gave potential killers the tools to kill. In reality, she could lower it anytime and waltz out the doors, but behind the doors of the MWPSB was the last place Makishima would expect her.
1. Latent Criminals

**Wrath: Cowrite between Exile Wrath and Magpies and Pie. **

**Summary: ****Former-Inspector-turned-Enforcer Tsunemori Akane maintained a Crime Coefficient of 120 on purpose, so then she could work on the side of the law and not draw any questions as she hunted for the man that gave potential killers the tools to kill. In reality, she could lower it anytime and waltz out the doors, but behind the doors of the MWPSB was the last place Makishima would expect her. **

**Pairings: onesided!GinoAka, ShoAkaShin triangle.**

* * *

Abyssal Path

"_I'm disappointed in you, Tsunemori Akane."_

It was becoming a ritual, echoing those words every morning. Otherwise, she'd forget. That was quite scary - that she could forget to be angry at him.

"I'm disappointed in you, Tsunemori Akane," she recited to the mirror.

* * *

Five pairs of eyes looked up from their computer screens to their boss, Inspector Ginoza.

"Eh, a newbie is joining us next month?" Kagari asked, saving the game on his console. "I thought we got zero applicants from training schools this year."

Ginoza skimmed through the profile on his screen. "He's not a 'newbie,' he's a fully-fledged Inspector from Unit 6. The ratio between Inspector and Enforcer is much more balanced with them so transferring one of their members to us won't cause too much trouble."

"Is it that hottie Inspector Kokubo?" Sasayama chipped in excitedly.

Unfortunately, Ginoza remained fairly unimpressed. "No, Sasayama, it isn't Kokubo Hitomi. It's Kougami Shinya."

At that, Kagari lost all interest and Sasayama sighed in defeat. Just another elitist Inspector who doesn't even at least have a cute face. Kunizuka rolled her eyes at their response, but the other two Enforcers remained curious.

"Kougami Shinya... isn't he one of the last students ever to be taught raw forensic psychology?" Tsunemori inquired.

"I heard he's pretty skilled," Masaoka commented. "Quite a workaholic too, mind you. Looks like Nobu and the girls will get along perfectly with him."

Kagari made a snort of protest. "That's a low blow, Masaoka-san! I do my fair share of work too!"

"Then what's _that_ in your hands, idiot?" Kunizuka snatched the game console from his fingers and stabbed a thumb on the 'off' switch. She then shoved the console inside her desk drawer, ignoring his horrified expression.

Sasayama only laughed at Masaoka's words. "Does this mean I finally got some competition around here?" he chuckled. "The ladies from the other units say he's quite the looker too." He then wheeled on his chair to face Tsunemori. "Don't let him flirt too much with you, Akane! Or I might get too jealous and steal you away!"

"Rest assured," Tsunemori deadpanned. "I have no time to flirt with anyone- neither do you, Sasayama-san."

"Buuuurn!" Kagari whispered loudly behind them. "How many times does this make?"

"Get back to work, all of you!" Ginoza barked.

Behind the dark circles and deep-set frown, Ginoza was secretly relieved that there was going to be another Inspector to shoulder some of the work. Not to mention, Kougami Shinya was an experienced and resourceful detective, who had apparently scored the highest grade in the year when he graduated from training school.

His story sounded fairly nostalgic.

Tsunemori caught him staring and he quickly hid his face behind some papers. News of their latest case: ''accidental' murders at a drone factory.

* * *

Even though Kagari had spent the past month complaining about 'their new babysitter was coming' he was jittery with excitement in the police van.

"Hey, I heard that Inspector Kou knows how to fight," Kagari babbled to Kunizuka. "Wanna place bets on him versus Yama-san?"

Sasayama chuckled from the other side of the van. "Oi brat, don't get me involved in your games. Also, do I look mad enough to hit an Inspector?"

"Yes," Kunizuka replied flatly.

Tsunemori's mouth twitched into a smile behind a digital screen. It was only for a second, but Masaoka still noticed and nudged her with an elbow.

"I'm betting on the new Inspector," he announced abruptly.

"You're such a traitor, old man," Sasayama lamented.

Kagari grinned. "And Tsu-chan?"

"Masaoka-san," she replied.

"You too, Akane?!" Sasayama faked a stab in the heart.

Small talk continued until the van crunched to a stop. The doors hissed open and light spilt over their shoes. Akane switched off her computer-watch. It was like every other outing they had- the humming on the walls soothed out and Unit 1 Enforcers marched out to group with their Inspector.

Oh wait, _Inspectors_.

The outing this time was a little different.

Ginoza regarded the Enforcers with a stiff nod. "All of you, this is Inspector Kougami. I'll remind you again that he is experienced and can handle command over you responsibly."

He gave them a few seconds to take in the new face. Kougami Shinya nodded in acknowledgement at the Enforcers but said nothing.

Akane dipped her head in a short bow just to be polite, but it was Masaoka who broke the silence by engaging in a quick conversation. A really quick one, since Ginoza was already greeting the chief supervisor of the drone factory.

Kagari twisted his head to Kunizuka's direction. "I'm betting on Yama-san," he whispered in confidence.

* * *

Prodding a fork at what he was assuming a meatball, Kagari's face wrinkled up in both disgust and fascination. He scooped it into in his mouth anyway and scanned the grey cafeteria walls whilst doing so. The hallways were grey too, and the debugging rooms and the storage rooms... their entire tour was just filled with grey.

"The isolation facility does a better job at cooking than this," he commented with his mouth full. "I think I'd rather commit a crime than be stuck working in this boring dump."

Kougami sat down next to him with a cup of coffee.

"You shouldn't say that so openly in front of your Inspector," he advised and took a sip of the coffee. He paused. "Actually, I'll take that back."

Opposite them, Tsunemori was staring intently at a screen from her computer-watch again. Bored of his food as well, Sasayama tried to lean in to get a closer look of the screen as well.

"You trying to call someone?"

"Calling is impossible," Tsunemori reminded him. "To prevent hacking on the drones, this factory has no connection to the net. It's a wonder how they get by with entertainment."

Sasayama opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by the sound of a meal tray tipping onto the floor. A plump, young-looking employee began frantically gathering the spilt food together and fruitlessly cleaning the front of his jumpsuit.

He was completely surrounded by his co-workers but none of them were bending down to help him. Instead, they just watched and laughed instead.

"Hey, 'yellow-green' bastard, you gonna eat your lunch in your private little room again?" one of the workers taunted, kicking the tray again to create an even bigger mess.

Tsunemori's eyes narrowed a little. Sasayama rested an arm on her shoulder and whispered, "To your left, do you see the big-shot Chief who runs this place? He's not even looking at what's going on."

"Relieving your stress by scapegoating, huh?" Kougami remarked as he pushed off the bench.

He spun on the his feet and stalked towards the circle of jeering workers in wide, confident strides. Everyone watched in slight disbelief as he knelt down next to the soft-faced victim in the stained uniform.

"You okay?" Kougami asked, holding out a hand to him.

In the corner of Tsunemori's eye, she spotted the disapproving frown crease the Chief's face. She couldn't help but smile in satisfaction.

* * *

It didn't take long for the smile to sour again.

The soft-faced employee, Kanehara Yuuji, was being displayed on a wide screen. Seven chairs lined up along a table in front of it.

"We may be lacking evidence, but we still can solve this logically," Masaoka explained in front of the screen. "Hue checks are made public here. If anyone gets too cloudy they're moved out of the workplace, but no one's got transferred in the past 12 months. All we have is this lad, who is at most risk of getting kicked out- the one with the yellow-green Hue."

The sneers of 'yellow-green bastard' echoed faintly at the back of Tsunemori's head.

Masaoka changed the screen to show the recorded data of the Hues over the time of the workers' deaths.

"Everytime Kanehara Yuuji clouds too much, another employee mysteriously dies, getting ripped to pieces by a 'faulty' drone," Masaoka continued. "Factory unspoken entertainment is to vent your anger on someone else, right?"

Ginoza's eye twitched. "This proves _nothing_," he hissed, voice dangerously low. "I'm sick of hearing your so-called 'detective intuition.' It's nothing but a delusion. Don't place your opinion so highly, you latent criminal!"

As biting as he tried to make his words sound, he only earned a brief smile from Masaoka in response. Sasayama appeared to be stifling his laughter.

"Ginoza-_san_," Tsunemori said in warning.

The change in title suddenly caught Ginoza off-guard.

But before Tsunemori said anymore, Kougami leaned forward a little on his seat.

"Masaoka-san, right?" he spoke for the first time since the meeting began. "I want to go with what you're saying and try out a plan to test Kanehara's innocence."

Now everyone else was off-guard.

* * *

"Thank-you, Inspector Kougami."

Kougami paused from the cables he was fitting. He glanced over at her.

"Thank-you, for listening to Masaoka-san," she elaborated. "Ginoza-san doesn't always approve of the Enforcer's style so it creates conflict. You're putting faith in his hypothesis anyway, I'm grateful for that."

He held her gaze for a few moments. "It's not everyday I get thanked by an Enforcer."

"It's not everyday I thank an Inspector."

Kougami raised his eyebrows in mild amusement and shrugged his shoulders. "My bad, I shouldn't touch on that line too much. We're both detectives, that's what I should be saying. And because we're both detectives, we both have a professional opinion which we're entitled to share."

"Detectives?" Tsunemori echoed. Hearing someone regard her something other than 'enforcer' and 'latent criminal' was something new, also frankly quite... encouraging.

"It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view," she chanted. "I wonder why I haven't ever thought of it that way before."

Surprise flashed in his eyes a little. "George Eliot's Middlemarch?"

"I didn't pin you for a reading type, Inspector," Tsunemori admitted, or maybe it was just his unruly haircut that made him look like a gruff sort.

Still, she was impressed how quickly he guessed it and let it show through a quirk of a smile which Kougami returned in an instant.

"I didn't pin you for a reader of social criticism."

Well, that was true. Tsunemori never did enjoy those books at all, they were often dark and crabbish in her opinion. But she used to be persuaded everyday to go a chapter further and 'broaden her horizons' so she could develop a deeper understanding of the human sou-

"How's it looking?" Kagari peered over their shoulders.

Kougami finished fitting the cable and took a step back from the cart. "It should work fine. I'll-"

"Lemme try!" Like a child eager to get onto his favourite swing, Kagari jumped onto the weapon-cart and stomped on the pedal. It jerked forward almost throwing him off instantly, he clenched the bars with both hands and began swerving the cart round clumsily. "You know, this is actually kinda fun!"

Whilst Kagari began creating skid marks on the concrete, Kunizuka finished setting up the satellite dish on top of the police van.

"Transmitter ready," she reported.

"Say, how far can we go on this again?" Kagari asked, watching the cable slither behind him. "200 metres was it?"

Kougami tapped on his computer-watch to study the factory blueprints.

"Assuming we go through the backdoor, we can't go past the second floor elevator hall," he muttered to himself. "One of us is going to have to drag out Kanehara out near the front."

Sasayama picked himself up from the floor. "I might as well do _something_ before I start looking like a team mascot."

"It might get messy if he turns out to be the real culprit," Kougami warned.

"Listen Inspector, we're the same age so don't mother me. It's creepy as hell," he said flatly.

Tsunemori put down the wire cables she was dragging around and dusted her hands off her trousers "I'll go with you then, Sasayama-san."

"Aww, is Akane worried about her Mitsuru-nii?"

"I'm more worried about what you're going to do to Kanehara-san," she countered. "For instance, why do you need a _shock-baton_ when all you're going to do is talk?"

Before she even gave Sasayama a chance to explain, she already confiscated it and looped it inside her empty holster

"Hey, I was only going to use it as a prop! Come on, I'm not _that_ bad."

However, ten minutes later, he had kicked down a toilet cubicle door hollering "Found ya, you yellow-green bastard!" and dragged a startled Kanehara out who was secretly trying to have his lunch.

Tsunemori almost facepalmed.

The meal tray spilt across the floor again but that was the least of the suspect's worries.

"You caused the last three 'accidental' deaths, right? You killed them all!" Sasayama's face was so close to Kanehara he was almost spitting at him. "I don't have enough goddamn evidence to slam you. But screw that, I don't like you, so I'm going to slam you anyway. Why don't I start on the net? 'Kanehara Yuuji is a killer with a tainted Psycho Pass?' You won't be able to leave this factory without getting eaten ali-"

Kanehara didn't wait to hear the rest. He shoved past Sasayama and staggered out into the hallway, he barely noticed Tsunemori was right by the door.

The two Enforcers watched him escape.

"That went overboard," Tsunemori scolded.

"I had to be convincing, right?"

"If he _is _the culprit, and attacks us with a drone to keep us silent. The amount of collateral damage we're going to have to deal with might break a few records."

"Not our problem. As long as we get the proof we need to show yellow-green's the killer, my paycheque is happy. And besides, our kind and duty-bound Inspector Kougami is taking full responsibility over toda-"

They barely walked the length of the corridor when Kanehara returned on a drone. His soft, furrowed face was twisted past sadness and into something more desperate and fearful.

"Y-You're _evil_," he stammered. "M-My heart gets cloudy when everyone gangs up on me... if I can get r-rid of you... I can be cleansed!"

"For a fatty he sure got his shit together pretty quick," Sasayama growled and began yanking Tsunemori in the opposite direction.

The drone began to roar and it stalked forward with spidery legs, closing the distance furiously.

"You won't escape! You definitely won't escape!" Kanehara screamed over the whirring machinery. "I'll kill you right here!"

Metal clamps were snapping towards them, edging closer and closer like a creeping predator. Tsunemori shoved Sasayama to the side, sending them both sprawling into the emergency staircase. The drone zoomed after them but the door was too small for the entire construct to fit inside.

Kanehara impatiently slammed on the controls, willing the drone to squeeze into the frame, but the walls stood firmly.

The two Enforcers stumbled to their feet and flew down the stairs.

"This is your fault! _All _your fault!" Tsunemori yelled, glaring daggers at the man running in front of her.

"_My_ fault? It was the newbie Inspector's idea!"

"He never said to provoke the suspect like that!"

"Context! It was all in context!"

"It's still your fault!"

They were about to pass another floor until they heard a scream. Eyes locking with each other, they realized instantly that their plan was in shambles.

"I thought we got this area evacuated," Tsunemori whispered.

"Goddamn it!" Sasayama cursed and burst through the door.

A factory employee who Tsunemori recognized as one of Kanehara's bullies in the cafeteria was being trapped by a drone. Eyes wide, the cornered worker began babbling in hope to calm Kanehara down, but every passing second just seemed to darken his temper even more.

Sasayama let out a string of swear words and rushed towards the drone.

"Hey, Mr Criminal! You bored of me already?" he called out. "Or maybe you want to show off your crimes a bit and let me post your wins on the net after all!"

Tsunemori was tempted to slap a hand over his mouth. Still, they got the attention they needed as Kanehara moved the drone off the other employee, though he looked torn to what he was meant to do next.

The frightened bystander took the opportunity to run away, scrambling down the hallway with his pleas for help echoing along the passage. Kanehara blinked rapidly, as if waking up from a deep sleep. He turned his head slowly towards the direction of the echoes and without a second thought, gave chase.

"Oh shit no," Sasayama groaned.

Kanehara was going to take the drone into the main building- where all the other employees were. Which also meant the transmission cable was useless as it wasn't long enough to stretch to the other side of the factory.

In other words, they screwed up pretty badly.

A few seconds went by as both Enforcers stood in shock, listening to the heavy steps of the drone fade away. Sasayama reached for the communication device on his wrist- only to remember that the signal was blocked and wouldn't be able to update the rest of their unit.

They screwed up _really_ badly.

"Sasayama-san, please go and tell the others what had happened," Tsunemori instructed. "I'll go after Kanehara-san."

"Oi oi, you're not planning to give some flowery speech and make him calm down, right?" Sasayama said with a frown. A brief memory of their first case together came to mind. "Besides, no way I'm going to let a woman go after a literal killing machine like that."

Tsunemori offered a small smile. "One of us is going to have to report back and make new plans with the Inspector. I'm a new face to him, so hopefully it won't be as provocative in compa- _behind you_!"

She pulled Sasayama forward, and the space he was standing on crunched. A second drone hummed as it realized it didn't crush its target and pounced again. Both Enforcers were forced to dive at different directions to dodge it.

Sasayama gave up trying to argue. "Fine, let's do that, Akane. I'll take this drone back with me to the others. Try not get your limbs torn off, eh?"

"Likewise."

Sasayama began taunting at the new drone, making as much noise as possible to keep its attention on him. The moment Tsunemori disappeared down the corridor, he slipped into the emergency staircase again and the hunt was on.

* * *

The only experience one could compare to being chased by a rabid Drone would be being chased by a bear after somehow ending up in a zoo facility, and Sasayama was highly regretful that he now had both experiences under his belt.

Thankfully he was a good runner (not as fast as Akane of course, she had been on her track team and was almost inhuman) and was able to dodge the dangerous clamps without losing any momentum. But he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep running forever.

"How does one stop a rabid Drone when they have no goddamned weapon- I shouldn't have let her see that shock-baton," Sasayama found breath to complain.

As he ran past the same room for the third time (he had been running in circles to make sure the plan didn't fuck up any more) he got the glimmer of an idea.

Looping around, the Enforcer quickly ducked into an off-room and grabbed a set of industrial cables, slinging the bunch over his shoulder and running out before the Drone could try to trap him in the room. Sasayama allowed the cable to play out behind, himself weaving back and forth in front of the Drone. Eventually, they had made another circuit and he dashed into the room once again, hooking the last few meters of cable on the door latch several times for good measure before pulling.

The laid out cable sprang to life around the Drone, tightening around each of the arms and legs and the main body and head as well. It flailed in the air several times, trying to cut its entrapments or loosen them, but all in vain. The arms were constricted all too soon, and movement just tightened the Bowline Knot around the door latch.

Sasayama slumped against the wall, yanking his tie to loosen it a bit. He had caught his... but Akane had to deal with and its creator at the same time. The intelligence of the the robot would be much different.

Sometimes this job was really exasperating.

... that was a tremendous understatement.

* * *

"Forget collateral damage, this is going to turn into a psycho-hazard," Tsunemori groaned.

Whether on purpose or not, Kanehara had chased after his year-long bully right into the direction of a rec room. Which was probably filled with factory employees taking a break from work. A psycho-hazard just waiting to happen.

"Kanehara Yuuji, stop!" she yelled. "If you cause any more trouble, it will only worsen your crime record! Stop before you do something you regret!"

"Then I'll just kill you all before they can get to me!" he raved madly, spittle flying from his mouth. Akane grimaced, she hated when they wouldn't listen to reason.

"_Humans are creatures of emotion, Tsunemori. Reason and emotion do not cooperate well."_ She shook her head, trying to kick out _his _voice. She did not need flashbacks in the middle of a case- "Then I'll just stun you before you can kill anyone else," Akane stated flatly, ducking and rolling to the side of the clamps that had just descended on her former position by the doorway.

In an instant, she stabbed the shock-baton into the socket of the clamp and clicked on the charge. Electricity and shrill tweeting flashed from the joint she hit. The clamp twitched in defiance a few more times but screeched to a stop.

Wisely, the other (_sheep_) employees began running out the door after she had managed to maneuver the crazed man away from it, only to end up backed in a corner. Again.

The Drone leapt up, obviously going to attempt to physically crush her. Another few rolls to the side prevented that easily, _(brainless fools that have no true knowledge of the art of fighting) _and then Akane belatedly remembered their location; the rendezvous point was two stories down and thirty meters to her right.

But how does one go through two layers of thick concrete to the possibly only spot available to destroy an enemy? _('Let the snake bite its own tail' he stated simply, waving a hand at a picture of a mouse facing a snake) _"Great, so now I have to let its weight crush the ground for me. This is wonderful." Akane stayed still for a few seconds, dodging some swipes and getting Kanehara confident enough to try another jumping- attack on her. She dashed to the side, making sure that he landed on the same place as the first time.

_If Kagari was here he would be making game analogies right now. _She thought sardonically, barely moving out of the way in time to dodge a fourth jump, which ended up breaking through the floor as per plan.

Her landing on her back hadn't exactly been in the plan. Ignoring the pain, she repeated the routine, wincing with every roll.

Thank god Shion still had that hospital bed with her name on it.

Once again the floor broke through, and this time though, Akane made sure to at least _try _to land on her feet.

_('Akane, if you don't land on your feet then you may end up being killed for reacting slowly, you know.')_

* * *

Meanwhilst, the weapon-cart skidded to a halt in front of the second elevator hall. Kougami hopped off it and stared incredulously at the wide empty space. The silence was swallowing them up, along with the obvious questions of where were the two other Enforcers and Kanehara Yuuji.

Kagari and Kunizuka exchanged worried looks, it is not like their co-workers to be late.

"Where are they?" Kougami finally said out loud. "They should definitely be here by n-"

His voice was drowned out by a solid chunk of concrete erupted from the ceiling. A familiar female Enforcer tumbled down with the rubble, disappearing behind the cloud of dust blossoming from the fallen souvenir of the above floor.

She flung herself out of the dust and began sprinting towards Kougami's direction.

Right behind her was a slavering madman on top of a clearly hacked drone.

"What the-?" he began.

"DOMINATOR!" she roared.

Kagari scooped up the handgun in a fluid sweep and plugged in the transmission chord.

"Catch, Akane-chan!" he yelled, throwing it accurately into her waiting hands.

The moment the grip touched her hand, she heard Sibyl's voice ringing in hears.

_User Identification: Enforcer Tsunemori Akane. You are an authorized user._

Right then, more concrete crumbled and collapsed in front of the drone. It moved to pick it up to toss it at her with its remaining functioning arm. She halted sharply and sprung a different direction. Her legs prickled as she visibly felt the weight rush past her.

Tsunemori aimed the Dominator at Kanehara. His wide, desperate eyes followed.

_Crime Coefficient: 265. An Enforcement target._

Kanehara flinched violently. He flopped backwards, unconscious before he even landed on the pile of concrete. His drone resumed its mayem without him.

Another piece of concrete narrowly missed Tsunemori's foot. She darted back in an instant, as if she had just touched fire. ('_Don't let anyone corner you_, _or you may end up with some unpleasant surprises.' He had cornered her the next day and stole all the food from her plate._') Her eyes spared a second to measure the distance between her and the wall behind. She was too close.

"Tsunemori!" Kunizuka alerted her.

The drone had already lifted the next piece of broken concrete in the air. Tsunemori blinked in alarm.

A teal light engulfed the drone. Not a moment later a deep hole had melted into the machinery. The concrete dropped uselessly next to it.

Tsunemori didn't shoot the drone though. She craned her neck and saw the muzzle of Kougami's Dominator slide back into place. He gave her a curt nod.

It took awhile for her to nod back.

"Where's Yama-san?" Kagari asked worriedly. Akane paled slightly before bolting towards the wall, Dominator in hand.

Before Kougami could voice any confusion at her actions, she had scaled the wall and pointed at a ventilation hatch.

"Kagari, let me use the cart. I'm going to lift myself up there," she announced. "I should be able to find Sasayama-san's whereabouts near the other side."

She was responded with confused stares.

"You're going through the ducts?" Kagari asked in disbelief. "You do realize this place cancels out radio waves. If you get stuck or lost, we won't be able to track you! The end!"

Tsunemori sheepishly tapped the side of her head. "That's okay, I've been memorizing the blueprints all day."

Kagari took the opportunity to mutter something under his breath about geniuses and workaholics. Kunizuka was faintly bemused, aware that it was usual Tsunemori-behavior. The new Inspector looked slightly flabbergasted.

"Is this normal behavior for her?" he managed.

The other two Enforcers just rolled their eyes to themselves and moved the cart over to where she wanted. It took only a few seconds for her to pop open the vent and a few more to squeeze herself in, not that it was a tight fit or anything.

"I'll be back in a few! Someone should check up on Inspector Ginoza before he bursts a vein or something!" she felt her voice bounce off the enclosed passage.

The blueprint she had been constantly staring had opened up behind her eyes. She crawled forward with the Dominator hugged to her chest. Two left turns. Straight. One right turn. Left again.

* * *

Sasayama Mitsuru normally had high amounts of faith in his fellow coworkers, especially the former Inspector. But now he was despairing as being in the same room with a hog-tied Drone was just... boring. He supposed he could play around with the cables for a bit, but he had only just figured out how to properly tie that damn Franciscan loop-

Then one of the ventilation hatches (which he had also hooked some cable on) popped open. Several things ensued.

One, Akane tumbled out of the air ducts. Two, the Drone got loose. Three, he messed up on the damn knot. Four, his kouhai tossed him a Dominator.

He was sore after losing the knot that he had been working on for fifteen straight minutes. _User Identification: Sasayama Mitsuru. You are an authorized user. Dominator Mode: Destroy Decomposer._

Sasayama fired off a shot straight at the head of the Drone. Unfortunately, the energy beam overshot and there was also a nice U-shaped hole in the wall behind it. "THAT was for my knot," he scowled.

Akane whacked his head. "THAT was for the property damage paperwork we'll be getting later on."

* * *

"The new Inspector certainly likes to cause a ruckus, doesn't he?"

Ginoza glanced over his shoulder. "You were joining in, were you not?" he snapped dryly.

A casual smile lifted on Masaoka's face and sped a up a little so he was walking at Ginoza's stride.

"The kids left me to protect the van, after all the work I did to find our suspect," he chuckled. "Still, for Inspector Kou's first day with the new team, he sure gave us quite the show, didn't he?"

Ginoza didn't reply.

"I feel sorry for him though," Masaoka continued, somewhat still cheerfully. "Though we managed to wrap up the case quite nicely. There's about forty or so workers in shock, and I think a floor blew up-"

"He did _what_?"

"Actually, the floor was ojou-chan's work. Still as active as ever, isn't she?"

Ginoza felt tired. He barely participated in whatever scramble his fellow Inspector was operating but he just felt tired.

"And then of course there are the drones. Plenty of collateral damage too... Sasayama helped, from what I heard."

He could already see the piles of paperwork needed to clean up today's mess, the apology letters needed for the Ministry of Economy and the CID's finance office, the report needed to explain the chaos which he allowed to occur for Chief Kasei...

"What is this, Ginoza-_san_?" The factory's supervising Chief suddenly appeared in front of them, face set in with displeasure. "This can not be in your jurisdictio-"

Pushing up his glasses, Ginoza gave him a dismissive look. "We came here to stop a killer. We are here to prevent crimes. That is the job of the CID, and that is what we did. There are costs when it comes to stopping killers, of course. but if you are willing to submit a report of your grievances, I'll be happy to include a detailed examination of your oversight in my case report," it was all said in a tone that made Masaoka want to weep with joy.

The overseer cringed and backed away from the duo, who continued walking towards the cars. "That was a good thing, Nobuchika," Masaoka softly commented.

"I was doing the correct thing as an Inspector, old man."

_It's what she would've done back then, if it was her._

* * *

**Pie: I can't believe our first chapter is 11 pages long. Hope ya guys enjoyed reading!**

**Wrath: And finally the plot that has been annoying Exile and I ever since we joined the fandom has been written out. Pie wrote most of the top, actually. **

**Do look forward to the next chapter!**

**Review?**


	2. Crime Coefficient

**Wrath: And here's chapter two. Thank you for reading and reviewing.**

**Note: OCs in this chapter. Kagerou Project reference. Try to see which one of Kougami's friends will be killed in lieu of episode 11- /shot**

* * *

Abyssal Path

After all the havoc he brought during the drone factory case, Kougami was half expecting to be battered with complaints by his partnering Inspector. Instead, their entire trip back from the factory to NONA tower was in silence.

Kougami wondered if he should've apologized first.

He also wondered whether the silence was because such events were normal. Hopefully not.

The kettle behind him began beeping. He reached into his cupboard for a mug and a jar of coffee powder. Sitting next to the boiling kettle was an open schedule, 'Rokujou and Ayano, 10.30am. 12pm work shift.'

"Comp," he called out. "Weather."

The screen from the living area blinked to life displaying the weather forecast. Clear skies for the morning and most of the afternoon. No need to take his coat then.

He made his instant coffee and gulped it down whilst switching the forecast to the news. An interview with famous construction company president Senguji Toyohisa- about the benefits of replacing most of his body with cybernetic parts.

Since he had to go to work straight after his morning meetup, Kougami didn't bother choosing casual clothes. He tugged on a suit and left the apartment without a word, the lights automatically switching off on his way out.

* * *

"You look as spiffy as ever, Shin. How's the transfer?" Rokujou Akito drawled, swirling his drink in his glass. "What are the new co-workers like?"

"You look vexed. Did something happen?" Saiga Ayano piped, taking a bite of her sandwich at the same time.

"He looks like shit," the other corrected. "So what are they like?"

"Confusing and destructive and rude and polite," Kougami described. They looked at him dubiously.

"That's a contradictory statement," Rokujou muttered.

Kougami blinked, taking another spoonful of miso. "Sorry, I was describing all five of them." He spent a moment to bring each of their profiles in his head, "They're a mixed bunch."

"Sounds interesting," Ayano remarked, tossing her red scarf over her shoulder again as she reached for her drink. "Anyone stand out?"

_Any potential girlfriends? _was what she implied, but Rokujou gave her The Look.

"Actually, yeah. There's one co-worker who is an outstanding individual," he began. "There is something about her I can't place though. She is well integrated to the rest of the team but at the same time, seems to always be in a faraway place. She also appears to be well educated, and I can't figure out why someone like her is a latent criminal, really."

"I call being the best man at your wedding," Rokujou cut in blandly. "Anything else?"

"She's... driven," Shinya stated thoughtfully, blatantly ignoring Ayano's widening Cheshire grin at the descriptions, "By what I'm not sure. Sometimes it looks like she's reminiscing..."

"Enough about your co-worker, Shin," Rokujou interrupted. "Clearly you have found another interesting person that you'll end up psychoanalyzing and then you can tell us all at once instead of rambling now." His voice was amused at Kougami's attitude.

The Inspector went back to eating. "How are things on your end, Rokujou?"

"Same as always. The new students are absolutely incapable of handling the texts right. And they continually whine about using eBooks instead. Not in my goddamned classroom," Rokujou snapped. The long-haired man was a Modern History Professor at one of the nearby higher-level training schools. He did not try to befriend the students, by all means. "They're pitiful, unevolved runts that lack the required amount of neurotransmitters to think properly." On the side, he was also a Psychology teacher at one of the more specialized schools.

Ayano rolled her eyes. "And what's so wrong about eBooks?" she asked, humouring him.

"They're boring!" Was his instant reply. Ayano shrugged and tossed her scarf once again, and Kougami leaned back in his chair, done with his food.

Saiga Ayano had soft features, and was a full head shorter than Rokujou Akito- who was only a centimeter or two taller than Kougami himself. Ayano's eyes, a muted red, tended to alternately scare people or garner interest. She worked at a Welfare Center for orphaned children. Ayano contrasted sharply with Rokujou's sharp looks, and they did not have a great number of similarities.

Three three had met in school, in her uncle's Criminal Profiling class. Saiga Jouji, Ayano's uncle and Kougami's mentor, had once been a renowned professor, but was currently retired.

"Shinya-kun, are you doing anything this afternoon?" Ayano inquired, glancing uncertainly at Rokujou at the same time.

The answer was immediate. "I'm at work from twelve to six-thirty, sorry. Why?"

She sighed, slumping in her seat. "There's another guy asking me to date him but he won't back off unless I have a boyfriend. So I was hoping you could meet me at the amusement park in Adachi Ward today."

"Why don't you just ask Akito?" he asked curiously. Blue eyes met black, silently asking _'Did something happen between you two?' _Rokujou shook his head in denial.

The woman fidgeted a bit, playing with her blonde hair. "I don't want to be too much of a bother for him. He always helps me scare them off, and... yeah. Uncle keeps asking if we're dating or not and it's simply awkward."

Rokujou spluttered in the tea he had picked up to drink, and Kougami shook his head. "Excuse me- I'll go, it's not too much of a bother, but please tell Saiga-sensei that we are not and will not be anything other than platonic friends. Ever."

Shinya's Communicator on his wrist buzzed, alerting him to the time. He only had twenty minutes to drive to his workplace, which was really plenty of time. He stood up, donning his jacket at the same time. "Well I'm off now. See you two some other time. Don't kill any of your students, Akito. I'd hate to have to arrest you. And Ayano, Saiga-sensei is probably just joking with you." Then he was gone from the restaurant.

The two left just stared. "He really needs to stop that habit of giving advice while walking away," Rokujou complained.

"Agreed."

* * *

_A Psycho Pass exceeding acceptable value has been detected inside Nocturne Treesea Park in Adachi Ward. Inspectors on duty please lead your Enforcers to the area immediately._

Tsunemori lifted her head from the folder she was browsing through.

"Inspector Ginoza isn't meant to be here until for another hour," she muttered. "Inspector Kougami?"

She received a nod from her superior.

"Hey, Nocturne Treesea Park! I wanna go too!" Kagari insisted, already spinning his chair away from his workstation. "They completely redid the water slides and the haunted house!"

Kougami began to finish the rest of the coffee he bought. "You haven't finished your individual report on the drone factory yet. Tsunemori and I have."

"_What_?! You're pulling the workaholic card?" Kagari exclaimed, pulling at his hair in frustration. "I bet you just want to go on a date with Akane-chan!"

Kougami choked on his drink and Yayoi hit the back of Kagari's head with her magazine.

"He's only known her for little more than a day, Kagari," she scolded. "Don't be an idiot. It's almost as bad as Sasayama."

Kagari did not want to ever be compared to the older Enforcer. "But I'm not a perv like that old guy!" he complained. "Don't treat me like him!"

"It's a _job, _Kagari. I have no reason or want to even remotely consider dating these days," Akane reminded him _('Isn't this bookstore a nice place to be?' he asked, pulling a book from the shelf. 'It's almost like a partners' outing')_.

Despite Kagari's persistent complaints, Kougami and Tsunemori were the only ones who left the office to complete their fieldwork.

They signed out of NONA tower (Tsunemori getting several greetings along the way) and stepped into their respective vehicles. It was at times like these Kougami felt the large police van was overkill. He watched the petite Enforcer being engulfed by black as the doors slide shut behind her. Again, overkill.

Just as he drove onto the main road with the van following closely behind, Ginoza's car swept into the parking lot.

He ascended to his office finding it half empty and Kagari still wailing out complaints.

"What's going on here?" he asked wearily. "And where's Enforcer Tsunemori? Inspector Kougami is meant to be on duty as well, isn't he?"

"Eh, Gino-san? Why you here so early?" Kagari turned his attention to the new arrival.

Ginoza trooped to his desk and logged onto his computer. "After the fiasco the new Inspector conducted at the drone factory? We've completely disrupted the efficiency of the drone production and cut a hole in CID's budget. There is too much to tie up."

To his surprise, Kagari nodded in agreement. "That's right, Inspector Kou was the one who made the plan to catch that Kanehara guy. _He _should be here cleaning up the paperwork, _not_ going on a theme-park date."

Ginoza's jaw threatened to hang open.

"Theme-park... date?"

"That's right, Kou-san and Akane-chan are off to Nocturne Treesea Park while we're here stuck doing work!" Kagari exasperated.

Kunizuka rolled her eyes. "You're being childish, Kagari."

"You're saying that because you have no idea what you're missing out on!" Kagari argued. "Man, here I thought we'd _never _a case in a place like that and now we do..." he slumped in his seat in disappointment.

Meanwhilst, Ginoza was slowly processing what he had just been told. Kougami. Tsunemori. Theme-park. Stuck. Paperwork.

That Kougami... he did not just _ditch_ Ginoza at NONA tower with _his _mess?

_...with Tsunemori?!_

"Good morning, ladies!" Sasayama sang, bursting into the office. "Eh, Akane's not here?"

"Inspector Kou too?" Masaoka remarked, following closely behind.

Ginoza collapsed in his seat.

* * *

As the forecast promised, there were clear blue skies hanging over their heads as they drove up the theme-park. They stood behind the police van with the park cartoon map spread across between them.

"Our street-scanners picked something somewhere in this area, Ocean Fun," Kougami muttered, tracing his finger along the blue-coloured section. "It's a lot of ground to cover."

"True, but we don't have a face to work with so there is no point of us splitting up," Tsunemori pointed out. "Inspector, you should leave finding the suspect to me. I'll be able to notice any suspicious behaviour."

Kougami folded up the map and shrugged his shoulders. "Alright then. Let's gear up."

They both tapped at their computer-watches and activated the police mascot holosuits.

The moment they stepped into the park entrance, Kougami and Tsunemori were bombarded with mascots, colourful exterior holo and hundreds of excited people.

"Look, it's Comisa-chan!" a child eagerly pointed out.

Tsunemori waved back.

"The only problem we might have in these are the queues," Kougami notified. "Those places are too narrow for our holosuits to keep shape in. Just remember to tell me before you go rushing into a crowd with your holo switched off."

"I'm not a reckless person, Inspector."

"Who crashed through a ceiling with a killer-drone chasing behind her?"

"... I'm just good at finding trouble."

Tsunemori lead the way into Ocean Fun, absently waving to anyone who greeted her whilst scanning for a possible target. What distracted her what that her holosuit kept bristling every few minutes because of the numerous water-rides around her spraying flecks at her direction.

She passed a bridge stretched over a lane of running water, with a clear sign flashing 'WARNING: MIND THE SPLASH' in a loopy, childish font. A mechanised boat then bounced in front of the bridge, spraying the entire wooden frame with an icy shower.

The sign was a new development. It used to just innocently catch bystanders by surprise.

"You've been here before?" Kougami abruptly asked, in Comisa's sugary voice.

No matter how many times Tsunemori would use the holosuit, she could not get used to the cutesy Comisa "touch" which cloaked over their speech.

"Yes," she replied hesitantly.

"So you know your way round," Kougami said.

Tsunemori was glad he didn't ask who she came to the theme-park with. _('This is an odd outing,' he had commented. 'This is apparently what people affectiona-') _"Yes. I do," she said briskly, cutting off her memories.

Her attention drifted back to the people around her. A chain of giggling, soaked students climbed out of a water ride and rushed past her. Following after them was a couple, hands linked and hair damp.

What caught Tsunemori's interest was the person staring intently at the couple from a safe distance.

She stopped walking and nudged Kougami, "There. The person on the other end of the bridge," she whispered.

The target was watching the couple with a grim expression and hands clenched tightly behind him. He was entirely focused on them that he didn't even notice the large police mascot approach him.

"Excuse me," she spoke up, making him jerk his head round in alarm. "Please let me take a Psycho Pass reading."

When she reached to take his arm though, the young male sprung back with wide eyes. Panic completely overwhelmed him and he shot up the bridge to get away from Tsunemori.

Before she opened her mouth to call him back, Kougami blurred past her and quickly closed in on him within seconds. He snatched the target's wrist and shoved him into a secluded corner as so to not attract a ruckus with the scan. However, the suspect broke Kougami's grip in a rush of adrenaline, and dashed away from them, going quickly through the crowd. In order to move after him, both disabled their holograms, and were ready to chase after him.

However, an unexpected event in the form of someone grabbing Tsunemori by the wrist and Kougami being forced into a headlock caused them to lose the suspect. "Shin," someone said hollowly, "I feel betrayed."

Suddenly, the person holding onto Akane let go, popping up in her field of vision instead. "Oh! You're so adorable!" The Enforcer was taken aback by the red-eyed blonde that was now almost literally in her face. Then the girl turned on Kougami, who had been released from his headlock, "Shin! Why didn't you tell us you had a girlfriend?!"

Tsunemori's thought process screeched to a full stop. "Excuse me, but I'm not his girlfri-"

"Now look at this, Shin's such a horrible boyfriend that this young lady denies it!" a long-haired man exclaimed in exasperation. "What kind of friends have I made?"

"But she's not my-"

"What's your name, what's your name?" the girl piped up, looking Akane over. "I'm Saiga Ayano! And the other guy is Rokujou Akito! We're Shinya's best friends since training school!"

Akane was getting a headache- she needed to resolve this as soon as possible. "I am _not _Inspector Kougami's girlfriend, excuse me." Rokujou-san scowled in disappointment and the girl wilted with a pout on her face. "I am Enforcer Tsunemori Akane, and we are currently on the lookout for a suspected latent criminal."

Rokujou slapped his face. "Awww, hell. I wanted to give his girlfriend some of my blackmail material stash when we met her," he complained.

"I see you have priorities, Akito," Kougami deadpanned, grateful that Tsunemori's quick intervention had cleared up the misunderstanding. Said man rolled his eyes and dug his knuckles into the Inspector's hair. Yes, clearly they were friends.

"Do you two want to hang out with us for a bit! Since I guess that we must have, well... ruined the chase for you guys..." Ayano laughed nervously.

"It's fine-"

"I just want something to eat," Kougami interrupted her protest. Seeing her expression, he added, "Enforcer Tsunemori, we can enlist their help in catching the suspect. I am familiar with both of them, and either of them would have no problem subduing him. It's easier for four people to search for a person than just the two of us."

She raised an eyebrow. "There was no need to justify yourself, Inspector. I'm supposed to follow orders."

Rokujou looked like he would make a rude comment, but Saiga cut him off with a cross glare. "Let's grab a bite for snack, and then we'll look around for the guy. Do you have any appearance for us to work with?" he stated instead.

Tsunemori recalled the suspect for a moment. "Short black hair. Black eyes, narrow face. Male under left eye. Wearing a brown scarf and a drab olive-green overcoat. Cadence of the voice is relatively average, not too distinctive-"

"Woah, woah- exactly how observant are you?" Rokujou cut in. "That's alarmingly descriptive."

Akane shrugged. "I have a good memory." ('_Don't forget, dear, to remember even the smallest of things about a person,' he lectured. 'Even little details like the cadence of the voice could save your life if they come in disguise.') _

The man's eyes narrowed, and Tsunemori felt a flash of recognition. Had they seen each other before, when she was with _him_? This was bad bad- "Hmph. Well, where do you guy want to eat?" he asked abruptly.

Ayano brightened up immediately. "American food, American food!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down.

He tapped her head lightly. "Ayano, they're the guests. It's up to them," he reprimanded.

Kougami shrugged, looking at his coworker. "Tsunemori?"

Caught in the spotlight once again, "Uh... British, anyone?"

"I know this really adorable tea shop nearby, come on!" Saiga declared, tugging at Akane's sleeve and pulling her away. Kougami and Rokujou followed with their long legs.

"Have you met her before?" he Inspector asked.

Akito's mouth curled into a wry sort of smile. "Cadence of the voice... such detail... in my years in the teaching profession, I once came upon a man and his platonic companion, both of whom were brilliant at acquiring and teaching information. He was speaking with her about profiling- which caught my attention of course - and he had her listen to voice samples and describe them by pitch, music... it was astonishing."

"Was it Tsunemori?"

He shook his head. "The woman and this lady do not look remotely alike, but... their voices are similar."

"A-ki-to! Hurry up or I'll dump the bill on you!" Ayano yelled crossly.

"Are you sure you two aren't dating?"

"Are you sure you aren't dating Tsunemori?"

"I'm not."

"Exactly."

* * *

Tea and madeleines.

She had stupidly ordered _Earl Grey tea _and _madeleines._

Unconsciously, mind you. She had grown used to always ordering tea and madeleines to share with him whenever they had gone to little shops.

Why was she remembering him so often, all of a sudden? Perhaps it was a bad omen, that he was up to something and their bond somehow was letting her know of it by reminding her of him.

But still, she had ordered _tea and madeleines._

"Are you okay, Tsunemori-san?" Ayano piped up worriedly at the woman who was currently banging her head on the table. "You don't look happy."

"Of course not," she replied, voice muffled. "It's nothing, just a personal matter."

"Must be _something_ if you got so hung up that you banged your head on the table," Rokujou commented.

Inspector Kougami looked as if he were to say something, but hesitated and shut up. They ate their orders in silence, but he was the first to break it. "... you dip your madeleines in tea?"

She grimaced. "... habit."

"Marcel Proust!" Ayano cried happily.

Rokujou choked on his soda and Kougami looked thoughtful. "Swann's Way, right? The protagonist-"

"I'd rather not talk about it." Her voice was frozen, stilted, sharp as a knife and fully capable of decapitating someone's pride if needed.

Kougami shrugged off the uneasiness and changed the subject.

* * *

The group of four wandered around, remaining as inconspicuous as possible. Along the way, Kougami had tried his hand at a shooting booth - which was rather rare considering the correlation between heightened Crime Coefficients and guns. He had won easily, and was debating which prize to select. "Why don't you choose, Tsunemori?" he didn't refer to her as an Enforcer, not wanting to spook anyone with the fact that a latent criminal was walking around.

She looked at him dubiously. "Huh?"

"I don't especially want anything, and I think that you should get a souvenir, considering your 'conditions'," he explained. "Don't think about it too hard."

After a minute or so, Akane managed to swallow the lump in her throat and shakily choose a bright pink octopus plushie. _Do not think about him do not think about him do not think about him-_

_('Want anything?' he asked. 'I could win any of the games here easily.'_

_She shook her head. 'I'm fine, I don't want to bother you'_

'_Nonsense! We're partners, are we not?')_

"Thank you," she managed, clutching it in her arms. He looked a bit concerned at her behavior, but decided not to ask about it.

Then there was an uproar. "You bastard! She isn't even compatible with you!" someone spat loudly. Tsunemori, recognizing the voice, broke into a sprint, running through the crowd and flash-activating her Comisa-chan outfit. At the center of the commotion, Ayano was knocked back on the ground, having been pushed away from Rokujou who was caught the suspect she and Kougami had lost earlier in a headlock.

_Ah, so that's why the Inspector suggested that we group with them._

Turning to the crowd, she said with the sugary voice, "Excuse me, but this is an off-limits area. I repeat, this is an off-limits area." Everyone dispersed quietly, some curiously looking at the three in the middle, but none of them tried anything. _('Sheep, all of them,' he remarked scornfully.) _

"I'm sorry, but I need to inspect your Psycho-Pass!" Tsunemori approached the man, activating her computer-watch and using the Hue check function. "Arara," she really needed to get rid of that habit from Masaoka-san. "You are very cloudy today~ I deem you in need of therapy right away~"

Akito released the man, and Kougami approached, taking the fellow by the shoulders and escorting him to the police van outside the park.

* * *

His friends followed them to the van. "That's the guy that I was trying to shoo away by going with Akito today..." Ayano confirmed, looking at them. "It's kind of a small world, huh?"

Kougami nodded. "Yeah. It's a good thing that he didn't do anything too serious, and that his target was you guys of all people. I know that you and her can handle yourselves."

"Stay safe," Akito said abruptly. "I don't want to ever have to attend your funeral, ever."

Kougami punched his shoulder. "Same goes for you, fool."

Saiga approached Tsunemori. "Um... I hope you can get along with Shin," she murmured.

The Enforcer had just been about to go into the police van. "What was that?"

Ayano hesitated, then shook her head. "Nevermind, it's nothing."

* * *

The Unit 1 office was rarely silent. There was always the background noise of Sasayama snoring, or Kagari's game singing out the new high score, or Ginoza tapping his pen.

But at the moment, Sasayama was awake, Kagari's game was still in Kunizuka's drawer and Ginoza had dropped the pen.

"Afternoon," Tsunemori greeted.

"Afternoon," Masaoka responded casually.

"No, wait a sec! '_Afternoon_?' Is that _it_?" Sasayama demanded. "You spent _three hours_ chasing after _one _target and you just come back just saying '_afternoon_?!'"

"You guys _so _went on a date! I call for favouritism!" Kagari bursted out. "This evidence is right _there_!" He jabbed an accusing finger at the pink octopus toy in Tsunemori's arms. "Gino-san, you'll back us up, right?"

Ginoza however, was too busy trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Inspector Kougami and Enforcer Tsunemori had spent three hours in a popular theme-park, and somewhere during that time Tsunemori had got hold of a souvenir toy. She always did have a soft spot for cute things. It almost sounded as if they went on a da-

He distracted himself by fiddling with his glasses and trying to think of a -_um_- professional comment to add.

"Tsunemori, you are aware that as an Enforcer you cannot make personal purchases without the System's approval and a further check-up done by a tech analyst," Ginoza gingerly reminded her.

Tired of being scrutinized by his co-workers, Kougami zigzagged into the room and reached his desk.

"_I _bought it," he announced.

A second silent fell upon the office- but this time, it came crashing down in turbulent waves, drowning the entire unit with speechless shock. Even Kunizuka had stopped reading through her papers to look at Kougami's direction.

Kougami wasn't an idiot, he knew that the attention on him shifted new gears from what he had said.

"What? You all wanted a souvenir too?" Kougami asked blankly.

Sasayama's head dropped onto his keyboard.

* * *

**Wrath: In which both Tsunemori and Kougami are dense and Sasayama despairs. And Gino loses all hope of getting Tsunemori as a girlfriend.**

**Pie: What theme-park souvenirs do you think Kou should've got the others? haha**


	3. Past Obsession

**Pie: Thanks for all the reviews and souvenir suggestions from last chapter :D my favourite one had to be a stress ball for Ginoza haha thankyou konan248**

**Note: OC warning again. But they contribute to the plot- and are not paired with the canon characters. So breathe easy.**

**Also congrats to you to catch all the references we have developed a habit of inserting throughout the story.**

* * *

**Past + Obsession**

"Here in 'Talisman's Saloon,' the stories told are all other people's affairs. Is that alright, Happy Theory?"

"Yes, of course."

"Then what is your worry?"

"Well, it's one of my best friends. He's a really great guy and I hope he can get a girlfriend one day. And um, I've seen him with this girl yesterday and I think they really get along! But they're both from different social classes so they can't really get together... but surely, there's a way round that, right?"

"Hm, different social classes... that makes things quite difficult. Does this bother them in anyway?"

"Oh, um, I don't think so. They don't seem the type to care about it anyway."

"Then there is no problem, is there? As long as they can accept each other then what is stopping them from taking a step further? I have learned that nothing can stop two people who are truly sincere about each other. But if they have difficulty, advise your friend to face his feelings and confront her truly. Perhaps they are more similar than they think."

"Oh my gosh! You're totally right! Thank you very much," the penguin with a red scarf exclaimed.

"Those who are lost, please tell the lowly Talisman your troubling days. The answer is always hidden in your story. Well then everyone, let us meet on the next session!"

"Yaaaay! Talisman! Talisman!"

Ayano logged out of the Commufield with a sigh, rubbing her ears. "That was much too loud... that's what Akito would say... but I needed the advice."

* * *

"Shin! I need help!" his friend's voice cried over his Communicator.

Kougami flinched at the high pitch, rubbing his eyes groggily.

"What is it that's so bad that you're yelling in my ear at..." he glanced at the time, "seven in the morning?"

On the other side, Ayano rolled her eyes, forgetting that he couldn't see her. "I need help getting Akito a birthday present for next week!"

"Why are you asking me-"

"Because you probably got the present like a week ago and you guys know each other well!"

He frowned, sitting up and rolling out of bed. "Yeah, so?"

"Go shopping with me to get him a present!"

"I have work!" Kougami managed to automatically reply, staggering for the light switch.

There was the sound that Akito and he knew as Ayano puffing herself up to prepare herself to yell something. "Well, meet me at Iko Grace Mall in half an hour! I know your work shift today starts at ten! And if you wear a suit..." her voiced dropped, "You will go missing."

"Fine, fine," he muttered dismissively. "I'll be there." The Inspector activated Comp and went into the kitchen to make some coffee. "Why don't you just confess to him on his birthday or something?"

There was the distinct sound of Ayano breaking her chopsticks. "A- what are you talking about!?"

"My friends are hopeless."

* * *

She was there, pacing in front of the doors of the mall impatiently, looking at the time on her Communicator. Kougami sighed, walking up behind her silently, and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Why are you nervous?"

Ayano whirled around, "Shin!"

Kougami noticed that a few guys that had been looking from a distance scowled and moved away from them. "Okay. I'm here. What are we getting him?" he asked brusquely.

The blonde grimaced. "I asked you to come so you could _help me_," she whined. "You're closer to him than I am!"

He shook his head, sighing as he stepped into the mall complex. "Ayano, he's the one that goes out with you in order to scare off boyfriends ever since we were in high school and you figured out that he was male," he pointed out.

Paling, "Well... I'm just being careful, you know?" They arrived in front of a shop with an array of jewelry, and Ayano hesitantly glanced at one of the rings. Kougami made a mental note on what to get for her birthday. "So what would he like... or need? I could just make him homemade chocolate like last time..."

Shinya recalled Akito's bruised hands that he had glimpsed a week or so ago. "Gloves."

"Eh?"

"He needs gloves. You know how he punches things whenever he's upset. Gloves would prevent bruising," he explained patiently, "They soften the recoil on the hands."

_Beeep. Beeeep. _Hic Communicator blinked awake, the caller identity was that of his fellow Inspector. "One second, I have a call," Kougami informed her. "Hello?"

"We need you over here. Karanomori is done with her analysis on our latest case," Ginoza stated right away. "Get over here as soon as possible. We're in her lab."

Ginoza hung up right away, not giving him a chance to protest. "Sorry, Ayano, you heard him."

"But-"

Fed up, "Verduous Goods," he called back, already walking away.

"... huh?"

"They have good gloves that he might like! See you!" he waved.

Ayano stood there, eyebrow twitching. "You really need to stop giving advice while walking away!" Then she belatedly remembered her Commufield session earlier. "Shin! Wait!" He only glanced at her momentarily, and she took the opportunity to sprint towards him. "Shin, Shin! I met a really famous person called Talisman on the commufield the other day! We had this group meeting and I asked him about your problem. And he told me that maaaybe she is a lot more similar to you than you think!"

And then she moved away, through the crowd before he had a chance to reply. _Hah! Revenge for walking away and giving advice at the same time!_

* * *

Force of habit, Kougami ended up walking in the direction of Unit 6's analysis lab, it was only after he began to smell his former analyst's favourite curry that he realized he was going the wrong direction. He backtracked back to Unit 1 to the lab Karanamori Shion worked at- also where a certain female Enforcer frequented every other day.

He stepped through the sliding door, being welcomed by a wall of glaring panels. Sitting in front of them, were Unit 1 arranged in a rough semi-circle with his new analyst sitting in the middle. She tore her eyes away from her computer to greet Kougami.

"Oh, so you must be the new Inspector!" she exclaimed. "This is the first time we've met properly, no? You're just as handsome as the other girls say."

Ginoza rolled his eyes. "You're late, Kougami."

"You're supposed to say 'good morning' when your co-worker comes in, Ginoza-kun," Shion added with a wink. She then handed over a folder to Kougami. "We were just looking up that missing person you were assigned to."

"Hayama Kimihiko, right?" Kougami muttered, flicking through the sheets. "When he visited his apartment, Masaoka-san guessed that his body was cut up into pieces in his own living room and fitted through the bath and toilet drains, right? What did your forensics drones find in sewer pipes?"

The comment about Masaoka made the older Enforcer smile, but Ginoza's frown simply tightened.

Shion's face lit up with pride. "My cute little drones _did_ find some body tissue which belongs to Hayama-san! Applause!" Whilst she clapped to herself, she spun round on her chair and turned to her monitor. "I also ran a background check on him as well. Seems like he was unemployed but still had a steady flow of revenue from an affiliate service provider. I looked into it and found he lives off web advertising."

Kagari wolf-whistled. "When only the popular ones on the net can earn these huge amounts, it would look dumb to work outside."

"His social and work life seems to revolve around social networking, so if we're going to use anything as a clue to who might have been motivated to chopping him up, it would be here," Shion shrugged and tapped on a few keys.

Hayama's Avatar flooded the screen in front of the Enforcers. Whilst Kougami wasn't able to recognize the deep red and gold costumed figure, Tsunemori did.

"Talisman," she blurted out.

Kougami raised an eyebrow. "Talisman? My friend said she spoke to Talisman... last night."

"That can't be possible," Ginoza argued. "He's been dead for two months."

Masaoka laughed. "It could a ghost of the net. A rogue AI, so to say."

"Ehh. Ghosts don't exist though, tottsan!" Kagari insisted, leaning over Tsunemori's shoulder. "And rogue AIs pretty much don't exist. They're like an urban legend! You only see them in video games!"

Sasayama snorted. "You and your video games." He then turned to Tsunemori with a bright smile and a sweeter tone. "So what do you think, Akane?"

"I think you should call me properly, by my last name and honorific," she deadpanned. "Perhaps someone else is controlling it. I mean, he is a popular Avatar, whoever is impersonating him may have a financial incentive."

Shion shook her head. "His bank account has been untouched, even since his disappearance. What else is suspicious is that our ghost's been playing with some shady proxy server, so I can't just casually find where he's connecting from unless I might alert him."

A short silence followed as each person tried to formulate a motive for the killer.

_("Perhaps that the killer simply wants power from the Avatar? If he is such a famous figure then surely he'd keep the trophy? If not, well, what have I told you about obsessions?" _

"_Well, we all know that you're obsessed with her, Makishima-san," Choe bluntly pointed out. He received a punch towards the head for that.)_

Tsunemori's eye twitched. As much as she didn't want to think about _him _at the moment, the memories were useful.

"Obsession?" she suggested. A few of her coworkers looked at her questioningly. "I mean all obsessed fans would do anything for the idol they love. And considering that this is the Internet, someone might be crazy enough that they want to have the Avatar itself."

Kougami nodded his head in agreement. "Alright, so we can at least say the ghost is a fan -or formerly one- of Talisman and has no intention other than sustaining his popularity," he summarized. "We might not be able to track the ghost, but staying quiet means he won't realize he's being suspected. So right now is the perfect chance to get close to him."

"So... we're going to have to make contact with his Avatar, huh?" Ginoza muttered.

That raised a few new questions amongst the Enforcers. As latent criminals they were forbidden from any form of social networking- which meant none of them had any access to the Commufield. This limited the actual investigation team to the only two people who had private Avatars.

Kagari suddenly shot his hand into the air. "1500 yen that Gino-san's Avatar is a puppy!"

"You're on! 3000 yen it's a singing cactus!" Sasayama declared.

"3000 yen it's a watering can!" Shion followed ensuite.

Tsunemori sighed and offered Kougami a sheepish smile. "Don't mind them, Inspector. You're still quite new here so you won't know that they're actually quite serious when it comes to work. They just can be a little childi-"

"3500 yen it's a robot," Kougami abruptly announced.

"Eh, Inspector too?!"

* * *

"I don't have a Commufield account," Kougami said blankly. "Why would I ever need one?"

His generation looked at him with expressions ranging from disbelief to shock.

"Y- You don't have a Commufield account and you're allowed to!?" Kagari was the first to react. "That's such a _waste_!"

"This is quite a tricky situation then, Inspector," Tsunemori murmured, hand on her chin. " As Inspector Ginoza isn't as frequent on the Commufield that he would be able to carry out an online investigation solo, it is a must that someone who does know Talisman and the Commufields well partner with him."

"Should we ask an Inspector from another division?" Masaoka drawled.

His suggestion was ignored, as everyone knew how stretched thin the CID always was.

Tsunemori then hesitantly raised her hand. "I have an account. It's closed but with the Inspector's permission, we should be able to open it again."

Kougami frowned. "How do you have a Commufie-"

She suddenly gave him the glare of a thousand latent criminals and he let it drop.

"Tsunemori, are you suggesting we let you visit the net with a private Avatar?" Ginoza said, frown deepening.

"I'm suggesting that you let me guide you as someone who has some experience with Commufields and interacting on the net," Tsunemori corrected. "In case, Karanomori-can can closely monitor my speech and access logs whilst I'm online. Inspector Kougami can unplug me at any time if he thinks I'm causing trouble."

Silence followed after, the Enforcers waited to hear the approval or rejection from their Inspectors. Ginoza's frown did not smooth over at all, but Kougami kept a cool face.

He was the first to respond. "Whilst this may be a violation of the rules, I think that this method is the most efficient to this case. I approve of Tsunemori's idea."

Ginoza looked ready to argue but Sasayama sharply cut in.

"Hey, Gino. You're not going to say you don't trust Akane or anything, are you?" he asked, with a hint of accusation in his tone.

This made the Inspector immediately stiffen and he caught Akane's steady, cool stare. She was still waiting for his answer. He sighed and grimaced. "I approve of this idea. I'll retrieve the forms for approval right away," he bit out, turning on his heel and marching from Shion's domain.

The analyst just laughed breathily, "Well, isn't he all irritable today. I guess that Kou here has been turning his tidy little Division upside down, haven't you, Kou?"

"Actually, it's Akane-chan being the usual Akane-chan," Kagari corrected gleefully. "Akane-chan just gets to mess things up more because Inspector Kou here."

For some reason, the rest of the Enforcers began laughing to some degree, leaving Kougami guessing that he had missed some big inside joke.

* * *

They followed after Talisman into a halloween-themed Commufield; filled with gravestones and twisting black gates. The Avatars however were not focused on the a winding road which led to a rickety house, however. The cheers were rather directed at a gallows far above, a rather dead-looking cat-based Avatar hanging from it.

It had been a while since Tsunemori had been field-surfing, but she still remembered the particular Avatar being popular even before she was labelled a latent criminal.

"Please be careful here, Inspector," she informed. "This moderator, Spooky Boogie was and probably still is famous for being anarchist."

"She's famous, you say?" Ginoza muttered. "Then she and Talisman might know each other quite well. I'll have Kougami check the access logs to see how often they've visited each other's Commufield. Can you think of anyone else Talisman would be close to?"

There was no answer.

Ginoza's Avatar turned to face where Tsunemori's was _supposed _to be. "... Tsunemori?"

* * *

She found herself in the middle of darkness, Ginoza's dime conspicuously absent from her side. "Eh?"

The sound of chains rattling and levers shifting filled the area, walls sliding themselves to produce a room, a sink attached to one turning itself on and water flooding the sudden floor. Then a table, and chairs, and then Spookie Boogie herself was in front of her.

"Welcome, I'm Spooky Boogie," she introduced herself dramatically- even though it was obvious everyone would already know her. "I summoned you as a special guest in my chatroom. There's no problem with that, right?"

Tsunemori's first thought was if she had been caught in the act. She decided to ignore the idea and approach the conversation carefully, knowing that she was still being observed by Shion and Kougami.

"No, there is no problem," she replied. "But why me?"

"You may have disappeared from the public, but you're still quite famous, Lemonade Candy," Spooky Boogie explained coyly. "Or Tsunemori Akane, whichever name you like."

Shocked flooded Tsunemori. She almost logged herself out in panic. She landed in her position for a reason, the fact that someone else would know her identity and where she was would only mean-

_("It isn't like you to panic," he said in disapproval. "If your thoughts are not ordered then your decisions will not follow concisely.")_

She pushed _him_ out of her mind and forced herself to calm.

"You're probably curious how I know you," Spooky Boogie sang, clearly enjoying the surprise she got out of Tsunemori. "Check your school yearbook- if you still have it, you'll be able to spot me there."

It was only a former classmate then. Whilst it had been years, Tsunemori vaguely remembered most of her friends at training school. She already narrowed her list to about eleven girls or boys who could be the famous Avatar.

"You've vanished into thin air so it's not that hard to guess where you went," Spooky Boogie drawled. "I don't expect you've come to the public to play around. So, what does the CID want in my Commufield?"

Hesitant at first, Tsunemori decided it was safe to ask about Talisman. Inspector Kougami hadn't unplugged her from the net yet, so she guessed he wanted her to continue.

"Are you friendly with Talisman?" she finally asked.

Spooky Boogie inclined her head. "Well now, we're rivals on the access leaderboards. Why?"

"Has anything changed on his Field or with his Avatar? Especially in the past two months?" Tsunemori pressed on.

"Nothing distinct. Though, wouldn't you think something was happening _before_ that period?" Spooky Boogie pointed out, the cartoon grin only stretching further. "Talisman had been losing fans for a bit, he's been a bit rude and too obvious with trying to earn more cash. And you know, the moment you start falling from the ladder, it's hard to climb up to fame again."

Tsunemori nodded. "You think he had a change of heart in the past two months then?"

"Who knows? But why so interested in him? Did he do something wrong?" Spooky Boogie suddenly fired with questions.

"That's private. But I can tell you I'm trying to look for his real identity."

Spooky Boogie leaned across the table. "Oh? Then why don't I help you?"

"That's surprising, coming from an anarchist."

"There's a line I draw between public and private interests," Spooky Boogie said with a shrug. "Besides, having the CID in my debt won't harm me, right?"

And at that, she closed the chatroom and returned to her normal place on the gallows, hanging in front of the sickly yellow moon. Her distinct, lanky figure became the centre of attention of all her visiting guests.

"To everyone on this forum: as my show of thanks, I, Spooky Boogie have humbly prepared a banquet for you. It will be an offline meeting in Roppongi on the coming 4th."

She paused, and looked down at the infamous royal red and gold cloaked Avatar.

"And I _urge_ my friend Talisman to participate."

* * *

When they arrived at the "Exoset" club, Ginoza and Kagari were stationed at the front of the entrance, whilst Sasayama and Kunizuka secured the back door. Kougami let the remaining two Enforcers inside where people were dancing or drinking in their holographic costumes of their Avatar.

"You sure Talisman is coming?" Kougami yelled over the garish music.

"If our target wants to keep his reputation as 'Talisman,' then he has no choice," Tsunemori shouted back.

In any case, holosuits made no difference to the cymatic scan, their Crime Coefficient could still be read. On the other hand, being in a cramped club meant it was difficult to aim the Dominator from a distance.

It wasn't long until Talisman was spotted moving slowly under a shower of lime-yellow spotlights. Tsunemori activated her own holosuit of Lemonade Candy to edge closer to the target without raising alarm from the rest of the crowd partying around her. She slowly pulled out the Dominator from its holster and held it carefully in both hands.

_Subjugation Enforcement System online._

* * *

From a separate, jazzy club not too far from Exoset, a laptop screen flashed with a CAUTION sign. A map of Exoset's building layout followed promptly afterwards, pinpointing the dance floor with a bright dot.

Sitting in front of the screen, a slit-eyed man shoved aside the two women curled up against him and pulled out his Commu Device.

"Midou-san, it's as you guessed. They're a Dominator signal coming from inside the club," he informed. "It seems we have a few guests from the MWPSB."

"Damn that Spooky Boogie. She laid a trap on me," the voice on the other line mumbled darkly.

"I'll cover your escape, I've been wanting an opportunity to use a new program of mine anyway," the slit-eyed man assured.

He tapped out a string of commands on the keyboard, unable to stop his ever-growing grin.

* * *

The moment that she felt the electronic buzz in the air change tunes, she knew something was wrong. Akane dived backwards, where her coworkers were, and witnessed what was most definitely a feat of her _former _"coworkers" hacking.

It took a few seconds, at most. All of the holosuits blurred, and the next thing, there were clones of Talisman everywhere. Tsunemori would have cursed as the one she had targeted slipped away into the crowd, and panic ensued. Masaoka and Kougami tackled the closest people in hopes to capture the real one, only for someone to scream, "It's the MWPSB!"

"Agh! Hurry! Get out of here!"

"Wait- everyone calm down-" Spooky Boogie tried, but to no avail.

"Run for it!"

The first costumed person stumbled out of the back door and was instantly tackled by Kunizuka and Sasayama, but suddenly they were overwhelmed by a sea of Talismans who scrambled in all directions away from the club.

Sasayama tried grabbing another Talisman but quickly realized that it was useless. There were too many spilling out on the streets. Their target might not even be amongst the imposters anymore.

"Inspector Kou sure knows how to crash a party," Kagari commented, struggling to hold back a chain of Talisman.

Ginoza didn't even have the chance to respond. There were too many targets, and Unit 1 could only arrest so many costumed people as the rest scurried away in escape.

* * *

The usually excited and cheerful members on Spooky Boogie's Commufield had completely transformed into an angry and confused mob.

"What the hell was with today's offline meeting?!"

"My boyfriend was taken by the Public Safety Bureau!"

"Tell us why!"

"Did you set us up with something?!"

Even the confident and snarky Spooky Boogie was hanging on her gallows like a punished criminal rather than a beloved icon.

"E-Everyone please calm down!" she stammered, waving her lanky limbs about as if trying to physically defend herself from their rage. "I had nothing to do with that Public Safety Bureau patrol, it was all a-"

"Lies are bad, Spooky Boogie," a deep, smooth voice cut her off. "They were already in Exoset when the disturbance took place. I can't imagine them being there without a sponsor from the start."

His words instantly hushed the rest of the crowd to sharp whispers and suspicious glares at the hanging Avatar.

"To think our beloved anarchist was actually a government spy, it is simply a _betrayal_," he denounced.

Spooky Boogie flared up, her limbs thrashing around her wildly. "What are you saying?!" she shrieked. "_You _were the target from the begi-"

Still, Talisman interrupted her again in an unwavering and relaxed tone. "You have betrayed your own character. _You are no longer Spooky Boogie_."

Unable to say anything more, Spooky Boogie logged out in a desperate retreat. Sugawara Shouko ripped off the Net Helmet over her head, dyed red hair exploding around her.

"What was _that_?" she whispered to herself. "Urgh. He's so creepy! I'm going to block him. There's no way I'm letting him back on my Commufield ever again."

"That is not necessary."

Sugawara paused.

She lived _alone_.

Her head craned over her neck, and froze in place when her eyes contacted with a tall figure standing in the corner of her bedroom. For some reason, her Security System hadn't reacted to him.

"Wh-Who are-"

Before she could say anymore, the figure leaped forward and wrapped his hands around her neck. She choked and clawed at his fingers whilst he only tightened his hold.

"I'll say it again. Sugawara Shouko, _you are no longer Spooky Boogie_," he echoed vacantly.

"Ta-Talis-ma-" she rasped, tears gathering at the corner of her wide eyes.

She gasped and struggled like a fish out of water, her tongue rolling out and hands still frantically scratching over the iron grip on her neck.

Not longer later, her hands dropped limply onto the floor. They never moved again.

* * *

"Did you kill her?"

"This woman was unsuitable to be Spooky Boogie," Midou replied. "However, for the sake of everyone's entertainment, Spooky Boogie cannot disappear."

He moved towards the face-down body of Sugawara Shouko. She was lying on top of a plastic sheet, a line of saws, hammers and screwdivers lined neatly in front of her. Midou picked up the largest saw.

"Therefore, I will preserve Spooky Boogie and only 'delete' this woman, without leaving a single trace behind," he announced.

There was the sound of a book closing. The reader looked up to offer a brief, empty smile at Midou.

"You'll be more suited to be Spooky Boogie than Sugawara Shouko," he agreed. "Just like how you were more suited to be Talisman than Hasayama Kimihiko."

He moved to drop a few tomatoes inside a blender. Whilst a scarlet tornado whirred inside the machine, a slit-eyed man entered the room with his laptop dangling loosely at his side.

"Managed to collect another Avatar, I see," he nodded at Midou. "Strange tastes, I'll have to admit, but I respect your passion."

Midou was still blank-faced as he dug the teeth of the saw into Sugawara's bruised neck.

"It's more than passion... more like obsession," he elaborated. "Obsession with maintaining the perfection of these Avatars." He glanced up from his work. "Everyone is obsessed with something."

The slit eyes lifted open, revealing artificial glowing replacements underneath. They shifted to the white-haired man sitting in the middle of the room. "I suppose everyone is," the brunet agreed.

The reader simply pressed his lips in a thin line, the blender becoming louder as he turned up the speed, suddenly becoming slightly stiff. Choe Gu-Song could only tell because of years of knowing the man.

_You are still obsessed with her, aren't you? _ He thought, not daring to say the words aloud for the sake of his life. _You are still trying to find her, after so many years, aren't you? _

The reader simply glanced up from his book, gold eyes flitting around the room and landing on a book that Sugawara had left open. A class yearbook, flipped to a page with the picture of 18-year-old Tsunemori Akane.

His lips curled into the smallest of gleeful smiles.

* * *

**Wrath: Once upon a not-time, I never not considered not killing the same characters that Urobuchi didn't not kill. (Kudos to you if you can get past the double-negatives)**

**Pie: I had too much fun writing 'Spooky Boogie' over and over again. Go ahead and do it yourselves. It's weirdly entertaining.**

**Review? **


	4. Nobody Knows Your Face

**Pie: It seems everyone is making fun of Ginoza because of his Avatar choice. Well, being Ginoza is suffering, this is only natural. Thanks for reading and reviewing the last chapter!**

**Wrath: Do not underestimate the things we have learned from Urobutcher's fantastic School of Butchering. Just a warning for things to come in 11.**

* * *

Your Face is Nothing

After the mess caused in the Exoset Club, Tsunemori knew there was little chance Spooky Boogie would risk cooperation another time, but she had to be polite and meet her again. Kougami approved of the meeting and she logged in as Lemonade Candy.

The private chatroom with Spooky Boogie was waiting for her.

"I'm sorry."

Spooky Boogie's arms were folded over her frilled chest, and her mouth threatening to break out into a snarl.

"If everyone's problems can be solved with just 'sorry' then we won't need the police," she spat. "Not only you let Talisman escape, my Commufield has been wrecked. I wonder whose fault is that?"

Tsunemori sighed. Their conversation was faring worse than she predicted.

"It is our fault, and I really am sorry," she said again. "But you helped because you thought there was something wrong, ri-"

"I am Spooky Boogie, the anarchist," she cut in firmly. "No matter what the circumstance, I'll never be a government underling again. Don't even think of asking me to help the police again."

Before Tsunemori had the chance to respond, the chatroom evaporated around her and Spooky Boogie logged out. Slowly, the Enforcer pulled off the Net Helmet, and she rubbed a thumb again the metal covering- it was going to be a while until she'd be able to Field surf again.

* * *

Whilst she and Kagari packed away the headset, the rest of the Unit crowded around Shion's computers, staring at an enlarged image of Talisman as if there was a hint hiding on his screen.

"Well, we're back to square one," Shion announced, lighting a cigarette. "Any bright ideas?"

"Look into his access routes. That's the only other option we have," Ginoza muttered. "Karanamori. Tell me when you get a location."

When he got up to leave, he was surprised to finding Tsunemori blocking his path.

"Wait, Inspector, I want to try something first," she requested. "Depending on my results, we may have somewhere more dire to go to."

Considering how vague she was sounding, Kougami was half-expecting Ginoza to brush past her. Instead, the bespectacled Inspector considered her words and gave her a curt nod.

"You won't have long, Tsunemori."

A small smile curled on her face and she turned to Shion.

"Karanamori-san, could you play the recording of my Chatroom with Spooky Boogie, please? The second one?"

The chatroom Akane was just in a few minutes ago flooded a wide screen. Her co-workers stared at it vacantly, not really sure what they were supposed to be looking for. The Enforcers in fact looked quite bored, and whilst Akane was being engulfed by the playback, the rest of them were slouching on various seats in the lab.

"I never really understood the idea of Commufields," Masaoka commented.

A toothy grin stretched across Kagari's face. "You're a dying breed, tottsan. You and Inspector Kou."

"Karanamori-san, please rewind a few seconds," Akane abruptly said.

Shion clicked on her mouse a few times.

"_No matter what the circumstance, I'll never be a government underling again. Don't even think of asking me to help the police again."_

"What are you looking for?" Kunizuka asked the question everyone else held in their heads.

"A slip-up," Akane mumbled under her breath. She edged a little closer to the monitor. "Karanmori-san, could you play my first conversation with Spooky Boogie?"

_"Besides, having the CID in my debt won't harm me, right?"_

Akane's eyes narrowed. "Karanamori-san, just one more thing. Could you check Spooky Boogie's logs and search for the number of times she uses 'CID' as opposed of 'police?'"

Fingernails clacked against the keyboard and the search list poured over the screen. 'CID' was highlighted in dozens of conversations where Spooky Boogie brushed on anarchy, whilst 'police' in fact never made it once in the results.

"The person I just talked to was not Spooky Boogie," Akane finally announced. "She would've addressed up by the 'CID,' not the 'police.'"

Ginoza glanced at her. "Tsunemori, you said Spooky Boogie was a classmate of yours. Have you figured who yet?"

"There won't be a need to; we can filter from the students in my class to whoever earns a living through web advertising- just like Hasayama Kimihiko," she explained. "Shion-san, could you please do that so we can get an address?"

Still sitting comfortably on a spare computer chair, Masaoka lifted his head up so he could study Tsunemori's face.

"Ojou-chan, there really is no need, I'm sure whoever was the previous Spooky Boogie Avatar is already dead," he stated flatly.

It was as if his words summoned a flood to drown out the rest of the team's voices. No one else spoke, all concentrated on the female Enforcer whose face did not as much twitch at his words. Her hands however, did visibly clench with her nails digging into her palms.

She tried to keep her tone even. "Why would you say that, Masaoka-san?"

"I'm surprised someone as sharp as you didn't notice," Masaoka observed. "The fact that someone is impersonating this Avatar means the original user is in a position where she can't. Usually that means she's dead. I know I'm not familiar with this form of social networking but that doesn't mean I don't have any common sense."

"Masaoka, quiet. You're making baseless assumptions again," Ginoza warned quietly.

Kagari exasperated. "But wait, who would've killed her?"

"The kind of person who'd hijack an Avatar just so he can impersonate it," Masaoka replied, ignoring Ginoza's darkening scowl. "It's Talisman. Our ghost here isn't focused solely on that one Avatar, he's focused on collecting them. It's not an uncommon pattern amongst criminals who have a passion for something. I've seen a long line of them."

"Old man, stop acting like such archaic methods actually provide any proof! You must be fooling yourself-" Ginoza began ranting, which was rather unprofessional in Kougami's opinion. He was going to say something to cut off his fellow Inspector, but then-

Tsunemori coughed. "Ginoza-_san_," she said sharply, glaring straight at him.

The man fell silent at once.

Kougami raised an eyebrow. _What just happened?_ Next to him, Masaoka laughed in a fatherly way. "Aah, it seems like the little miss still can reign Nobuchika in, even though she is a Enforcer."

"Hm?" Kougami glanced at Masaoka curiously. "Did something happen between them?"

Hound 1 smiled deprecatingly. "When you stare into the abyss too long, the abyss stares into your soul. Ojou-chan isn't entirely what she seems."

"I kind of figured that out the day I joined, Masaoka-san," Kougami replied. "She did crash through the ceiling with a rabid drone after her. It is a rather memorable scene, you know."

The man just smiled, eyes crinkling up in the corners. "If you want to find out about ojou-chan's past... You have your work cut out for you, Kou."

They stole a look at Tsunemori who stood quite still in the centre of the lab. The only time she spoke up again was ten minutes later when the address to Sugawara Shouko's home came up. She volunteered to go.

* * *

For some reason, Tsunemori imagined she had physically changed a lot since she first joined the MWPSB. Instead, when she looked at the training school graduate photo of herself, she realized she was still sporting the same mushroom bobcut, her eyes were still babyish and she wore funny smiles.

She gently placed the graduation album back on Sugawara's desk. No, Shouko's desk. Akane had always addressed her classmates by their first names.

Her gloved hand traced along the bookshelf. There was a strange array of manga, political studies and history books stacked in a line. Above the shelf was a careful display of soft toys with frilly bows and velvet jackets. Shouko loved girly things. That's how she and Akane got along.

Akane stepped away from the desk, unable to delve any more. She still had her back to Kougami so he couldn't see her expression. If anything, she would have wanted to come alone- but that was no longer an option after she became a latent criminal.

After _that _happened.

"It isn't your fault," his voice suddenly rang in the middle of her thoughts.

She didn't respond to him straight away, her eyes followed one of the small drones which was crawling across the room. The small batch they had sent down the sewers found some pieces of Shouko's flesh.

"I know it isn't. Shouko offered to help us out of her free will, none of us put this on her." She said that knowing her words sounded robotic and unfeeling.

"I thought you might've wanted someone to tell you that."

"Thank-you, Inspector." She turned round so he could see her relaxed expression. "I appreciate your thoughts, but as you can see, I'm fine."

"She was a friend of yours."

"Yes, a good friend. All I can do now for her is make sure she didn't die in vain." She moved so she could walk past him, but froze at the door when Kougami spoke up again.

"We'll catch this criminal, Tsunemori."

She had heard those words before, but his tone was not full of naive promise- they were confident and daring, sparking a foreign feeling which tugged the corner of Tsunemori's lips into a smile. A small one, but still a smile.

"Thank-you, Inspector Kougami."

* * *

However, the moment they had come back from Sugawara's apartment, Tsunemori had disappeared from view. No one had bothered to look for her so far, Kougami observed. It was probably for the best, considering what had happened to Sugawara. He had managed a short chat with her, but apparently she was still brooding.

He stopped by the lab, finding Shion working alone.

"Oh, Inspector Kougami, what can I do for you?" she asked with an amiable smile. "I'm on a break, so let's hope it's not work related."

Kougami gave the empty sofa a sparing glance, he thought that Tsunemori might have come back to continue with the case. Still, he had a few questions to ask the analysis anyway.

"We've confirmed Sugawara Shouko's death to be similar to Hayama's, which means our culprit is an Avatar collector," Kougami reported. "I want to know if there has been any other famous Avatars going through a short losing trend before suddenly regaining popularity again."

Shion twirled her cigarette. "And so it's work related. You say a trend?" She turned back to her computer, varnish nails clacking against the keys. "Well, Blue Melancholia is one case half a year ago."

"And his user?"

"A 14-year-old boy named... oh, wait a minute, he's been reported missing around the same time he regained his popularity," Shion said in surprise.

Kougami nodded his head. "I have a final request. Compare all the viewers of their Commufields a few months within that trend and with the disappearance of the three victims. The culprit would have used his own Avatar to log in their fields up to the point he killed them all, but after that he'd be using their accounts. In theory, he would've stopped visiting them immediately after their deaths."

Shion exasperated. "Here I thought we'd get along, Inspector but you're just as demanding as Ginoza-kun. We're talking about hundreds of accounts so it'll take a while to load."

The Inspector nodded. "Thanks for the hard work. Call me when you're done."

As he exited the lab, he spotted Sasayama fishing out a packet of cigarettes from a nearby vending machine.

"Sasayama," he called out, "where does Tsunemori spend time?"

The sandy-haired man shrugged. "At this point in time, she's probably beating the crap out of some training Drones," he drawled. "She spends a lot of time sparring in the exercising rooms."

Kougami stepped into the corridor which would lead to said rooms, intent on finding the Enforcer. It was good that she was releasing stress rather than allowing her Crime Coefficient to build up even more, he supposed.

He arrived at the exercise room just in time to see the seemingly diminutive woman unleash a series of kicks that forced the Drone backwards, against the wall. Tsunemori swung around and punched the lower cheek, a clang resounded as fist met metal and she dented the Drone, the Holo fizzing out.

Kougami glanced at the entry card. "You have the difficulty set at the highest?" he said aloud questioningly. "I wouldn't think that someone with your physique capable of taking down a sparring Drone of that level."

Tsunemori ignored him, bending over backwards to stretch her back. She only wore a sports bra and some shorts, an outfit which did reveal a more than decent amount of skin.

She walked over to the bench, grabbing a bottle of water and gulping it down. For some reason, Kougami couldn't bring himself to look away from her direction. He tried to clear his throat but failed miserably.

"I tend to be severely underestimated upon first impressions with people," she said easily, setting down the bottle and raising an eyebrow.

Kougami made a slightly strangled sound at the back of his throat when she stepped closer in order to grab a towel on the bench. "So I suppose that you don't feel too mentally impacted by Sugawara Shoko's death?" he tried, staring at her and making himself remember to blink at least a few times.

Tsunemori dragged the towel over her face. "Of course I'm mentally influenced by her death. However, I accepted the occurrence and refuse to brood over it any longer. The best I can do is strengthen my body so that I may prepare to arrest the killer."

She glanced at him. "... Is there something on my face?"

What saved Kougami from a very potentially embarrassing moment was the bleep on their Communicators. They accepted the group call which was made by Shion.

"Hello boys and girls, guess who found your target?" she sung. "Inspectors, you owe me some drinks since I worked overtime for you~"

* * *

A phone beeped on the dresser, the screen reading: 'Choe Gu-Song.

"It's bad news, whenever I get a call from you," Midou said upon picking up.

There was a short chuckle on the other end. "You have to forgive me. But you're right, I bring in bad news. The MWPSB are on your trail."

Midou didn't have to hear anymore to know what Choe Gu Song wanted to say next.

"I can't stop now," he said firmly. "I have a mission to maintain the perfection of these Avatars."

"Of course, continue as you wish," Choe responded politely. "You after all are still within Makishima-san's interests, therefore I shall assist you."

There was the background noise of a tapping keys and a mouse scraping across a table. Midou know his way around computers but the expertise of the Korean hacker was almost monstrous.

"It would seem you will need to move again," Choe notified. "There are some special guests on their way to see you."

Midou glared at his own laptop screen where he saw Choe's hacked security camera recordings showing a police van draw up next to the hotel. He sucked in his breath, and glanced down at the medicine still scattered across the table.

He had very little time.

* * *

The results from Shion's analysis showed only one suspect, Midou Masatake. His bank account showed he had recently checked in a hotel nearby his apartment. Inspector Kougami arranged a police-van to take Unit 1 to the address. Considering it was a small operation, only Enforcers Masaoka and Sasayama were assigned.

They filed out of the vehicle in front of a modest-looking building with holo letters decorating the front. Kougami noticed that as Masaoka walked ahead, the Enforcer pocketed a container.

"What are you carrying?" he asked.

Masaoka only chuckled, the sound of swishing liquid inside his pocket. "Something which might help when stuck indoors."

They quickly arrived at the fourth floor, finding Midou's door across a long stretch of hallway. In a structured manner, they cautiously approached it with Sasayama near the front.

Receiving a nod of approval from the Inspector, he kicked down the door and raised his Dominator.

"This is the MWPSB, you unlucky bastard!" Sasayama called out as he entered the room.

The rest of the team followed en suite, whilst their target -hidden next a wardrobe- impatiently finished typing up a string of commands on the laptop. A code given specially by a Korean hacker.

A second after Midou hit the enter key, the entire room bursted into a disarray of colours and flying furniture. The carpet underneath Sasayama melted into a black hole, forcing him to scramble back in confusion.

"What the actual _fuck_?" he hissed, trying to keep his footing.

"He completely messed with the interior holo," Kougami cursed, eyes unfocused in the clutter of holographic chairs zooming by.

"How are you meant to aim with all this trippy shit in the way?" Sasayama groaned, ducking as lamp spun past.

Masaoka lifted the mysterious container from his pocket, revealing a bottle of alcohol. He unscrewed the cap with one twist.

"Sasayama!" he barked.

On cue, a lighter was tossed in his direction which he caught with his free hand. Kougami watched in confusion as the Enforcer suddenly took a swig of the alcohol.

"Oi, Inspector! You might want to move out of the way!" Sasayama warned with a feral grin. He was about to say more but caught a blur of a man running past him.

He instantly spun round and chased after him, dodging moving walls and furniture on his way. By the time he stumbled into the hallway, the blurred person had already reach the other end. The target stopped momentarily to look backwards- but that was the vital second which the fire sprinklers turned on at the influence of Masaoka's firebending.

_Crime Coefficient: 330_

Aim and raise, just like routine-

_Mode: Lethal Eliminator. Please aim and eliminate the target safely._

Sasayama pulled the trigger, seeing the usual explosion of flesh and blood - but from the wrong place. Midou only stumbled before continuing running, sans his right arm. "Well, _fuck_. I think he used some kind of numbing drug-"

Kougami sprinted with the Enforcer towards the staircase, following the blood dripped on the tile floor. They looked down the flights, Sasayama glaring down hatefully. "Karanamori, can you track Midou's movements?" he yelled into his Communicator.

A crackle of interference interrupted her first words, but it cleared up right after. "His signal is going through the side streets- he's headed towards his apartment. Let Akane-chan and the other finish this."

Both men nodded, and Kougami turned around to fetch Masaoka - only to freeze at the old man offering some hysterical hotel workers some alcohol to calm down.

* * *

He hastily typed a series of keys on his tablet, the door to his apartment still swinging behind him. A window lit up on his screen, and the Holo began to shift as the program activated. "I'm... home..."

"Welcome back, Midou-kun," the three Avatars chorused.

"I'm okay," he said distractedly, briefly touching his bloodied shoulder. "You're all eternal. You were released from the chains of a physical body and polished by collective intelligence. You're the souls most close to Plato's "Idea." No one can look down at you. I won't let anyone destroy your nobility. I... will protect you all."

"Thank-you, Midou-kun."

"Once I was guided by you. Now, together with you, I will guide people and the world," he breathed, the numb pain in his arm being overwhelmed by his excitement and happiness to see his beloved Avatars smile upon him.

In a spacious yet bare room, a set of computer screens was the only light source for the single resident. He watched in amusement at Midou's grey but content face.

Again, "You are eternal."

Choe Gu Song felt a faint smile form as he lifted his cup of tea. He guessed it was about time.

He tapped a single key which held activated his bug on the program for Midou's elaborate delusion. Technically, Choe didn't have to observe Midou any longer, but he continued to sit there, sipping his tea, watching as the gentle smiles on the Avatars twisted mockingly.

In the middle of his beloved AIs, the blank-faced man felt at peace, as if the CID was not after him. But then he was torn from his illusion of peace with a murmur from Spooky Boogie. "But... couldn't you have done a better job, Midou-kun?"

He was not entirely an idiot to notice that there was something suddenly _wrong. _"Wait, what on earth-?"

The colourfully costumed Talisman spoke next, his voice only a slightly different pitch, yet sounding menacing. "There's something that I've been searching for... that I want to know. For that purpose, I did whatever it took."

"Say, have you read Shuji Terayama? You should read his play, "Saraba, eiga yo." It seems like everyone is an agent for someone," the blue youth chimed in next, shaking his finger disapprovingly, "And further, those agents have their Avatars communicate in place of them."

Midou's face went impossibly pale, and he swallowed his saliva to choke out, "Are you.. Makishima?"

As one, the Avatars spoke Makishima's words, "You have a thorough knowledge of various Avatars and are capable of imitating anyone. You can be anyone you like so I was very interested in what your personality was like. That's why I lent you my assistance."

He jerked to his feet, left hand batting at the Holo in front of him and swaying uneasily, the figures blurring and sharpening back and forth,"Stop it! Give them back to me! Don't speak in their voices!" Midou screamed in anguish.

With each phrase, an Avatar would speak, moving tauntingly around the crazed criminal, "But... now I see matters coming to a close. At least for the end, instead of using a borrowed idea, why don't you come up with an idea of your own to close the curtain?" Makishima clicked off the speakers, continuing to speak and not caring what Midou cried.

"What are you doing?!" He tried to grab the edge of Talisman's red-and-gold in vain, hand passing through the Holo and making him stumble. Spooky Boogie and Blue Melancholia sneered at him, and Talisman's disembodied head hung just beyond his reach, gave painted with a mocking expression facing him.

"You can play any character, and yet, in the end it turned out that you yourself are nobody. Your core personality is null. It's empty." Makishima sighed with disdainful disappointment, "You don't have the will to face yourself. Since you lacked a face, you were simply able to wear any kind of mask."

"STOP IT. STOP IIIIT."

"It's about to say goodbye, Midou Masatake. The hunting dogs that bring death have arrived," a press of the enter key and Midou's Interior Holo was disabled, a few typed commands wiped his computer's memory, and Makishima slid off the headset altogether, standing up from his seat and stretching. "Perhaps now would be a good time for tea."

They had been outside for only a few moments, Tsunemori and Kagari listening on the inside with their ears to the door. A pained scream caught their attention, and Ginoza raised a finger, a second, and when his ring finger was up Tsunemori spun around, her heel meeting the door and kicking it in with a bang as it slammed open. "This is the MWPSB!" she announced, running in and taking a position on Midou's right, Kagari, Ginoza, and Yayoi taking up their own spots and aiming at the flailing, deranged Midou.

Choe choked on a sip of tea, setting the cup down and turning up the volume. He began typing rapidly to open his line on the apartment's surveillance cameras, a pressing sense of urgency presenting itself. Did he just hear-

_Crime Coefficient: 330. Mode: Lethal Eliminator. Please aim safely and eliminate the target_. The directional voice sang.

With a nod from Ginoza, the four pulled the triggers on their Dominators, four blasts of molecular disruptor biting Midou's torso at once.

He exploded into muscle and blood, a mere messy splash on the floor.

The Dominators went back to Paralyzer form, and Yayoi was the first to lower hers. "So it seems that this case is over," she stated curtly.

Tsunemori had gone near Midou's computer, tapping away at the tablet. "But... Who was he talking to in here?" she observed, momentarily glancing at the surveillance cameras suspiciously.

Gu-Song could barely believe his ears and eyes- she had been right under their noses the whole time. She was right there-

He took a glance from the view of another camera, looking straight at the mushroom-haired woman. _Should I-_ he shook his head.

If be was to choose between his methods of death, he'd rather die by Makishima's razor blade than any terrors that Tsunemori's black mood could bring. It would be best to wait to examine her movements, or if Makishima did hear of her existence from him and she had disappeared again...

Choe decided that it would be best for his sanity to not pursue that line of thought.

* * *

**Pie: RIP Midou. He was actually my favourite minor villain... And can anyone guess what case happens after this one? XD**

**Review? O w O**


	5. Lilies and Purple Hyacinth

**Wrath: So, have some nice recovery time fluff. Also, Ayano is NOT, and WILL NEVER BE Kougami's girlfriend.**

**She'd much rather be Akito's I should shut up now.**

**Pie: More drunk people next chapter, look forward to it! Thank-you to all the people who had read and reviewed the last chapter!**

* * *

White Lilies and Purple Hyacinth

In another life, Kagari knew that he must have been an awesome chef. Like, the owner of a five-star restaurant and world-famous, at that. "So you better be honored that you get to eat my awesome food, Kou-chan," he grinned, shaking the pan full of rice and other ingredients around. "I _can _call you Kou-chan, right? 'Inspector Kou' is too long."

The Inspector bent over one of the arcade games in the adjoining room, curiously examining the decades-old Pinball table.

"It doesn't bother me. And seeing that you aren't making food from Hyper-Oats and from scratch instead, I already am honored to be here." Kougami double-checked to see that Kagari wasn't watching him and turned the knob on the game table, a ball shooting out from the side. Within moments, he was not-so-discreetly pinging the ball everywhere, sending off chimes and bells as it scored points.

"So why are ya interested on information about 'kane-chan all of a sudden, Kou-chan?" Kagari piped, doling our servings onto plates, "Is someone in love?"

Kougami swore quietly as the pinball fell between the hitting arms. "No, its just a matter of professional interest," he replied, not looking towards the kitchen.

"Heeeeeeh? Professional interest? That's a lame excuse, Kou-chan."

He swore again, the ball falling past by a side-tunnel, "It's not an excuse, Kagari."

The Enforcer hyena-laughed, "Whatever you say, Kou-chan. And get over here; the food's done!"

He abandoned the Pinball table, taking a tentative sniff of the air as he got closer. "This smells rather good," he commented, stealing a bit of rice from the plate.

Kagari punched him upside the head. "Hey, Kou-chan, you're not supposed to eat yet!" he complained, setting a bottle on the table. "You can't eat unless you're drinking, too!"

Kougami eyed it warily. "Is that for fire-breathing or actual consumption?" he asked dubiously, distinctly recalling the display Masaoka had put on a few weeks ago during the Avatar case. "And I'm not that incredibly keen on hangovers."

"It's sake! For drinking, idiot! Haven't you had sake before? And _what _about fire-breathing?" Kagari asked in consternation.

"Yes, I have had sake before, and- forget about it."

"The thing is..." Kagari slurred, "I came after Akane-chan's 'motion."

"...her what?"

Kougami had carefully managed to only drink half a glass of sake (he really did not have good memories of his past hangovers) whilst Kagari was on his fourth glass. Which unfortunately resulted to half of the Enforcer's words being a slurred mess.

The orange-haired host rested his head on his hand, "Someone died, somethin' like that," he muttered incomprehensibly. "And then her -er- fish..ient shot up a buncha points or somethin' like that."

_This guy... _Kougami resisted a groan. _I should've stopped him after his third glass. _He was sure that Kagari was _trying_ to tell him something important about Tsunemori, but the alcohol was sort of ruining it.

"Mmhmm. You know, things used to be real sour between Gino-san and 'Kane-chan from what I heard. They used to fight and stuff- not pretty at all. Then you know, bad things happened and Akane-chan hit a whole new low," Kagari rambled. "And say, Kou-chan?"

"Hm?" Kougami paused his thought process for a moment.

"How come you're not drunk yet? Are you actually drinking?" A guilty expression slipped across the Inspector's face for an instant, and even though he was drunk, the latent criminal caught it. "Hey! no fair! You ate a lot and barely drank anythiiiiing," he whined.

"Kagari," he tried to change the subject, "What was she like back then- before the 'bad things' happened?"

Kagari swore under his breath at "light-weight uptight Inspectors" and rolled his eyes. "Ehhh- she was friendly. But kinda distant? And she would read a lot, then she showed up at my flat one day and dropped off boxes of books she didn't want anymore. I never touched them, o'course, cos' I only read manga, but I still have them around here somewhere in case she ever wants them back, y'know?"

Ah. A lead. "Do you know where you put the books?" he asked.

"Not really. I put them in some corner so then 'kane-chan doesn't see it whenever we all have game night," Kagari sighed. "I think they remind her of an old friend. Maybe the one that died? 'cause when she came over and saw them once, she looked all sad for a moment and muttered someone's name and then didn't look back the rest of the night."

"Do you remember what she said?" Kougami prodded.

Kagari's face scrunched up in thought. "Uh... Sho?- something like that."

Sho. Which could be short for Shouko, Shogo, Shouichi, or several other names. Not much of an insight into her past, then. "Do you know what the name of the person who died? You said it had some... effect on Tsunemori."

"Nopes! It's part of the background of her file which is locked, an' only to be opened by higher-ups. The other guys, y'know... Gino-san, tottsan, Kunicchi, Yama-san, and Sensei probably know more about her than me, but I bet she was the same an' just got awesomer when she-"

Unfortunately, Kougami nearly swore right then, and Kagari's head had smacked into the table and he had begun snoring, fast asleep from the alcohol.

He internally noted that Kagari was a talking drunk - and to ask some other Enforcers about Tsunemori later. Preferably after some paperwork. And when they were not drunk.

* * *

Like a lot of people, Ayano had never been anywhere close to NONA tower before. Technically, she was in the same Ministry as her friend Shin- Health and Welfare, but the NONA facility was involved with latent and real criminals, making it a secretive and unapproachable area. After all, even though Shin was clearly bothered by the work sometimes, he couldn't tell anyone about it.

She crossed the courtyard and into the main building, the two drones stationed at each side of the door not even stirring as she entered. The interior design was quite impressive- though perhaps a bit too fancy for Ayano's taste. In fact, it was a little nerve-wracking; she felt a bit out of place amongst the suited employees and gold-coloured decor.

Well, it was still kinda exciting- she had never seen so many police officers before. They weren't behind their drones or police crossing signs, which made them seem so much more ordinary- and not so mysterious-looking.

The front hall receptionist looked up from behind a heavy, curved desk. She didn't say anything, and waited expectantly for Ayano to speak first.

"Oh, I'm here to see Kougami Shinya," she announced, holding up a square-shaped notebook. "He left something behind."

"Is it work-related?" the receptionist asked, suspicion creasing her face.

"Eh, no, it's personal diary," Ayano insisted. "Just a bunch of dates and times. I er... I think he keeps a separate work diary- probably digital and password locked."

The receptionist raised her eyebrows. "Well, that's the protocol. If it's just that, then it's fine to go see him." She then glanced at her monitor and made a series of clicks. "Kougami Shinya is on the 26th floor, Office 1."

"Thank-you!" Ayano bobbed her head in a short bow and went to search for an elevator.

The receptionist watched her leave, red scarf bouncing over Ayano's shoulders.

"I didn't know Inspector Kougami had a girlfriend," she muttered to herself.

Unfortunately, the receptionist left out one important detail. Whilst getting onto the 26th floor was no problem, none of the rooms were labelled so she had no idea where she was going. It didn't help that the entire floor was eerily quiet.

She aimlessly walked one end of the hall, half-hoping to meet Shin on the way. Or someone. Anyone. How did anyone walk around NONA without getting lost?

"You alright, miss?"

A hand lightly touched her shoulder, making her jerk round in surprise. A man with short brown hair and a quirky smile greeted her.

"I've never seen a cutie like you on this floor before, you a new employee or something?" he asked. "First-timers always get lost around here."

Ayano let out a nervous laugh. "Erm, I'm just a visitor. Do you possibly know where I could find Kougami Shinya?"

"Oh, what a coincidence, I work in the same office as him!" he exclaimed. "Well, I guess I can take you to the Inspector. This way, miss." He spun Ayano round, guiding her with an arm wrapped round her shoulder.

"I can walk fine on my own," she said as politely as she could, as she tried to shrug off his arm. Though she was managing a smile on her face, inside she was wishing she had brought Akito with her as her (pretend) boyfriend.

Seeing how her guide was not getting the message, Ayano wondered if now would be a good time to try out the self-defence skills Akito had taught her. Thing was, the hallway wasn't very big and Ayano didn't want to get charged for whatever damage a wall could do.

"Just in case, you know. You can't ever be too careful when this place is swarming with latent criminals, you know," he chipped.

"Yes, absolutely _swarming_," a third voice cut in coldly.

Both Ayano and her guide turned to see a dark-haired, bespectacled man who clearly was not happy to see the arm wound around Ayano.

"Sasayama, before I personally arrest you for harassment and overstepping your boundaries as an Enforcer, I suggest you take five steps away from this woman," the dark-haired stranger growled.

Sasayama the Guide rolled his eyes and reluctantly peeled off.

"And you," he focused his frown at Ayano next. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Hey Gino, that's no way to talk to a woman!" Sasayama interrupted. "Geesh. This is why you don't have a girlfriend!"

"You don't have one either!" 'Gino' snapped. "Well, miss? What are you here for? Clearly you're not an employee here."

Ayano wanted to take five steps back herself. The atmosphere was getting a little tense. "I'm here to see Kougami Shinya," she replied. "He left a personal belonging behind."

"And I was just taking her to the office," Sasayama chipped in. "Seriously Gino, I _can _be a gentleman when ne-"

"I'll take her back," Gino said firmly. "You have a latent cr-" he paused when his eyes met Ayano's muted red- "-a Hue checkup to go to." He then gave her a stiff nod as if beckoning her to follow him.

Ayano did look back once, only to find Sasayama winking at her before disappearing into an elevator. She was slowly beginning to see why Kougami's co-workers were bothering him a bit. She also thought that Gino-san here could really do with a holiday.

Wordlessly, she was brought to an office, where there were two rows of desks aligned neatly across the room. There were only three people in the room, one who was playing with real darts in a corner, an older man with a prosthetic hand was reading through a folder, and the last person being completely absorbed by a large pile of papers. That would be Shin. He didn't even look up when she stepped through the sliding door, or even stand next to his work station.

She decided to inch a little closer to his ear and then suddenly call out "Hello, Shin-kun!"

Kougami flinched and rubbed his ear furiously. "Ayano? What are you doing here?"

"After I came all the way here to give you this, is that the way you say 'hi' to me?" she huffed, waving the diary in his face. "You left it at Uncle's house."

"Oh, I was looking for that," Kougami said, reaching to take it-

Only for Ayano to lift it a little higher so he couldn't reach. She gave him a half-serious glare which made him sigh.

"Alright, thanks Ayano, I'll treat you to a coffee later," he muttered, and the diary landed in his hand.

"At the place you took me last time, right? The lattes they make are just heavenly!"

"Okay, I will. You can go now, this isn't a place for civilians."

The dart-player looked away from his target board. "Hey Kou-chan, you're not gonna introduce your cute girlfriend to us?"

"That's bad manners, Inspector," the older man joined in.

Ayano felt her face flood crimson, it almost matched the colour of her scarf. "H-H-_Him_?" She pointed an accusing finger at Kougami. "Me as... Shi-Shin-kun's _girlfriend?_ That is really, really not true! Sure, he's my best friend but seriously is the last person I'd ever date!"

"Ayano..." Kougami began to say.

"He's totally not my style and is actually _really_ boring. You'd _think_ he'd have a girlfriend by now because he's tall and has a decent face but he's so awkward!"

"Ayano, you're doing it again..."

"It's actually worrying, because under that workaholic, dystopia-fanatic surface, he's actually a super nice guy, but it's hard to find a girl who has anything in common with him or be willing to put up with his personality. If you ever find a patient girl who knows about classical literature, then please introduce her to him, it's not like he'll take the initiative at fir-"

"Ayano, I think they get it," Kougami got out of his seat and began to gently direct her to the exit. "You made your point that you're not my girlfriend."

When they left the office, the next few seconds ticked by in a wave of silence. They had never heard so much about their new Inspector before in such a short time-span and so were all still trying to process all the information. Well, Ginoza was pretending to be proof-reading his report.

Kagari was the first to break the silence. "Well, my money is on that Kou-chan's not-in-that-way-girlfriend has a crush on someone else."

"'A patient girl who knows about classical literature,' she says..." Masaoka echoed thoughtfully. "Don't you think there _is_ someone like that in the office?"

In response, Kagari blinked a few times as he ran through the (very short) list of female co-workers related to Unit 1. "Tottsan, you don't possibly mean Aka-"

"Don't you two have work to do?" Ginoza abruptly reminded them. "Today is the deadline for the Spooky Boogie case report. If you miss it, I'll cut your paycheque in half."

Kagari mouthed 'slave-driver' to his fellow Enforcer before packing up the darts and returning to his workstation. Masaoka however, only smiled fondly at the timing of their Inspector's threat.

* * *

"I'm on my way out," Ginoza muttered, standing up from his desk abruptly and pulling on his coat. "Tsunemori?"

The female nodded at her desk, typing in a few last words on her Spooky Boogie report. "I'm ready, Inspector," she replied. "Just let me shut down."

Kagari was about to voice a complaint, but Kunizuka slapped her hand over his mouth. "I'll wait downstairs, then," the bespectacled man stated awkwardly before exiting the office as fast as he could without running.

Tsunemori nodded absentmindedly, pushing back her chair and pulling on the long white overcoat that she commonly wore. "We'll be back in an hour, maybe," she called out.

Yayoi released her hold on Kagari just as Masaoka responded with a, "Pay her my respects as well, ojou-chan." The woman had just bowed her head slightly before striding out.

"Kunicchi! Why didn't you let me talk-" Kagari complained, but was silenced immediately with three looks from the other Enforcers. "Where are they going? It's probably not a date, right?"

Masaoka looked at him uncomfortably, and Sasayama grimaced. Kunizuka, however, explained with a, "Inspectors have to keep watch over Enforcers at all times. He's accompanying her to go visit the grave of her best friend."

Kougami, who had been listening to the events with some interest, casually asked, "What was her friend's name?"

"Funaha-" Kunizuka started, but made eye contact with Masaoka and stopped. "I shouldn't answer that question, Inspector. I still have paperwork." She diligently went back to typing.

Masaoka stood up after a few minutes. "Kou, this old man is going to grab some coffee, okay?"

"Go ahead," he replied, going back to typing. Unfortunately, he was interrupted by his cellphone ringing. "One moment."

The three other occupants in the room tilted a bit towards their new Inspector. "Hello? Oh, sorry... Look, my office is on the 26th floor, and I'm in the middle of paperwork. Can you just drop it off?... Yeah, okay, I'll get you coffee at that place we went to last time... Office 1, and don't kill anyone on the way," he hung up, and rubbed his face. "Great."

Everyone else then proceeded to subtly tick their chairs 3 centimeters closer to the door.

"Thank you again, Inspector," a familiar voice stated. Akito would have turned around to greet the woman that had been with Shin that time at the amusement park, but was scowling too much to bother being nice. Besides, she was talking with some other guy.

The long-haired man took long strides towards the doors of the NONA Tower, face impassive. He halted a few meters from the doors, sliding his phone from his pocket and furiously dialling a number, "Oi, Shin!" he barked when Kougami picked it up on the third ring.

"Hello?" his friend greeted warily. Akito barely ever called people at this hour.

"You are severely lacking in some neurons, you know that? You forgot your wallet at the diner this morning, and I'm here to drop it off," he insulted.

"Oh, sorry..."

Akito was not to be placated by apologies- his apartment's AI that morning had denied him coffee and he really didn't feel like being polite. "Get your sorry forgetful skull down here and get it."

Kougami sighed. "Look, my office is on the 26th floor, and I'm in the middle of paperwork. Can you just drop it off?" he sounded aggravated. Probably his coworkers again, Akito supposed.

"You owe me coffee," he snapped before entering the Tower.

"Yeah, okay, I'll get you coffee at that place we went to last time..." he replied. "Office 1, and don't kill anyone on the way."

He laughed harshly, attracting some attention from other people. "No promises, Shin."

Akito was about to head towards the elevators, but was intercepted by the receptionist. "Excuse me, but what is your business here?"

He cleared his throat, forcing himself to speak more smoothly. "I'm dropping off something a friend left behind this morning," Akito explained, inwardly grimacing at the suddenly less masculine quality of his voice. "It's his wallet. I'll just be in and out."

She looked at him consideringly. "Okay. Do you know directions...?"

Akito, wanting to get out of the place already, started waking away. "Yeah, yeah. Floor 26, Office 1. Good day."

"... Strange. Was that person a man or woman?" the receptionist blinked.

When he arrived on the correct floor, Rokujou rolled his eyes. "For God's sake, would it kill them to label this place?" he muttered darkly. Running across a middle-aged man at a coffee machine, Akito veered to him and tapped his shoulder, bowing shortly. (He only really could stand being polite to people his father's generation) "Excuse me, sir, but would you possibly be able to guide me to Office 1?" he requested.

The brunet blinked with some surprise- must be uncommon for visitors to show up. "I'm heading back there right now. Was there something you needed from us?"

"I am dropping off something my friend forgot this morning," Akito stated curtly. "I'd be obliged if you would allow me to follow you."

The man smiled in a fatherly way. "You speak awfully politely for someone your age," he observed, beginning to walk in a certain direction. "I don't see that too often."

"I give politeness to those who deserve it, sir. You're an Enforcer, and do the public a great service with your work," he answered, following after him.

The man frowned. "How did you know..?"

Akito jabbed an elbow at his wrist. "Your specialized watch, which is also capable of producing tranquilizers or an electrical shocks should the need arise. It's an interesting device, so I examined records of it once in my free time."

He smiled again. "And you are completely fine with being conversing with a latent criminal, young one?"

"Unless you're planning to kill me, I really could care less," Akito said lazily.

The Enforcer observed him for a moment. "My name is Masaoka Tomomi," he introduced briefly.

"Rokujou Akito," the teacher nodded back. "Just here to drop off Shin's wallet."

"How odd. A young lady was here earlier dropping of something for the Inspector. And here we are," Masaoka murmured.

They entered the office, three heads glancing at Akito. " Oi! Shin, your wallet," he called, tossing it at his friend's face.

The Inspector caught it mid-air. "Thanks. I'll repay you and Ayano later."

"Yeah, well, you better." Akito turned on his heel and was going to exit, but then,

"Hey, Inspector Kou, you going to introduce the pretty lady?" a sandy-haired man asked obnoxiously. Shinya immediately shot up, jumping over his desk in order to grab Akito's arms.

"Calm down, he doesn't know-" he hurriedly said.

Rokujou was livid. "I'll calm down after I replace this blind idiot's defunct eyes!" he hissed, trying to shake his friend off.

The Enforcers looked at Akito warily, not really having expected such a reaction from a _civilian_. "Oi, Akito, I asked you not to kill anyone on the way." their Inspector was apparently completely used to his friend's behavior.

"This is my destination, not part of the way," he snarled, twisting out of Kougami's grip and stepping back, eyeing Sasayama darkly. "And hey, blind idiot, I'm a fucking guy," Akito glanced at his friend unsurely. "I kind of understand why you look so aggravated these days."

"You wouldn't even know- come on, lets get you out of this place without any casualties."

Kougami managed to drag Akito out of the office before things could begin breaking thankfully- he really had no idea why Akito hadn't been flagged in a Psycho-Pass check. "So what _is _the reason why you've been brooding so much lately, Shin?" Akito asked after forcibly making himself calm down. "And don't deny it- you forget things everywhere when you're trying to figure out a knot."

They entered the lift, Shinya thinking for a moment. "I guess since it's not related with any cases, I could tell you."

"Do tell."

"I've been trying to figure out one of the Enforcers. Her background file is locked, and her Enforcer profile has only the bare basics, and the other is to be accessed by the other Inspector of Unit 1, or a higher-up," he explained impatiently. "It's frustrating."

Akito finally found a new target for his ire. "Oya? Shin, are you in _love_?"

"Shut up and get out of here already, Akito."

* * *

As usual, Ginoza would wait inside the car whilst Tsunemori climbed up the cemetery with white lilies and purple hyacinth tucked under her arm. She stopped in front of a grey stone slab, _Funahara Yuki _engraved on its face. There was already flowers and burnt incense offered in front of the memorial, Tsunemori gently placed her own next to it.

She knelt down in front of Yuki- there was no body, it was cremated, but it was the closest Akane could get to interact with her, ever since-

"_I'm disappointed in you, Tsunemori Akane."_

Tsunemori closed her eyes briefly.

"It's been a while, Yuki," she whispered. "Asking how you are is a stupid question. I'm still catching criminals, but no sign of _him_ yet. Things have been looking good for our team, a new Inspector had been assigned to us, and I think he's quite amazing. On our latest case he figured out how to find the suspect all on his own." She halted, realizing she was rambling. "Ah, here I go again, talking about work as usual."

Her eyes drifted to to the pile of flowers.

"Looks like your parents came first, Yuki. Then Kaori..." a weak smile curled on her face. "I haven't talked to Kaori in a while. You'll probably be cross with me since I'm avoiding her, but it's not like we can go meet up at the sky cafe anymore." Her hand reached over to touch the specialised watch on her wrist, marking her an Enforcer. "Still, Kaori is probably doing alright. I'm not worried for her."

She lifted herself up from the floor and dusted her knees.

"Good-bye, Yuki. I'll come again."

Since Ginoza was waiting for her, Tsunemori wanted to hurry down so they could hurry back to NONA and resume whatever was left on their schedule. But her legs were being weighed by invisible rocks, and ended up sluggishly clumping down the steps.

By the time her feet touched the pavement, Ginoza had stepped out of his car to stretch his legs. He spotted Tsunemori at the corner of his eye and gave her a short nod.

"I want to thank you again for bringing me here," Tsunemori said.

Ginoza quickly turned to his car. "I-I simply hold a certain level of responsibility for what happened."

"Still, you escort me here regularly despite how busy you are."

"I'm not _that_ overwhelmed by work." _When it comes to you, that is._

* * *

If the System's files were not going to tell Kougami anything, he thought, maybe Unit 1 could. It would seem Tsunemori got along fairly well with all her co-workers, even Ginoza to some extent, but the person she seemed to hold a special friendship to was probably Masaoka.

She would go along with Kagari's jokes, worry about Sasayama, always eat lunch with Kunizuka, but she seemed to talk to Masaoka the most. There was no real surprise in that, despite what Ginoza thought, Masaoka offered good advice and experience in their cases, and he was easily approachable. There was a chance that she trusted him the most.

Which was how Kougami ended up in Masaoka's room. He watched as the older man mixed some oily colours and spread them across a canvas. A real canvas. Kougami couldn't remember the last time he had seen a person use actual paints.

"So, I'm guessing you're here because of ojou-chan," Masaoka prompted.

Kougami wasn't surprised that the Enforcer guessed right.

"There is something off about her," Kougami muttered. "If you don't mind me saying, I wouldn't pin her for a latent criminal."

"I don't mind," Masaoka said absently. "I've heard a lot of good things about you, Inspector. I also trust that you've been on this job long enough to know the difference between latent criminal and normal civilians- so I can understand that from your view; ojou-chan isn't suited to be a bloodhound. But then again, it's probably best if you don't try to figure out why, because you'll just end up like her and have a tainted Hue."

Kougami sighed and rested against the window, the sun was half-hidden behind skyscrapers but it was still unbearingly bright.

"The reason why Inspectors don't try to think like a criminal to solve a problem is because they have Enforcers to do it for them, so I'm already on a hopeless chase?" Kougami asked.

"_When you gaze into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. _Ojou-chan's looked into the darkness for too long," Masaoka continued. "Inspector, whilst I can't stop you from following her, I'd much rather you didn't. You remind me a lot of when I was younger and I know how it feels to fall."

It would seem Masaoka was trying to avoid the details about Tsunemori. Deciding that he wasn't going to get anymore, Kougami pushed himself off the window and began to retrace his steps back to the door.

"She was always polite, but at the same time was quite distant from us," Masaoka blurted. "And in the end, she just let herself get hurt."

"Is this to do with her friend who died, by chance?"

Masaoka's paintbrush lingered in the air. "As ojou-chan's subordinate, I said all I could."

Seeing how Kagari and Masaoka hinted that a dead person had affected Tsunemori in some way, Kougami deduced that something must have went wrong in a case- most likely a civilian casualty. Though, even something like usually did not result to an officer's profile being completely blocked. Unless something had went _really_ wrong.

Curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to ask Shion about access restrictions. She most likely could offer a starting point.

He headed over to the lab, only half-aware of the fact that there was barely anyone around. Unit 1 would frequent Shion's domain often for data results to help their reports or just for a chat.

He strolled to the door, only to find it wasn't opening automatically as usual. He wondered if something was broken. He instead swiped his Inspector-level security pass over a card reader and was finally granted entrance.

"Karanomori," he said as he walked in. "Your door is malfun-"

Two seconds went by as he registered what the hell was happening in the lab. It took only one more second for him to jump out of the door.

In three and half more minutes, Kagari and Sasayma bumped into their Inspector who was in the middle of making his brisk escape.

"What's up, Kou-chan? You look a bit pale," Kagari observed.

Sasayama's eyes trailed to the direction the Inspector had appeared from. "Did you just come back from Karanomori's lab?"

"Oh yeah!" Kagari exclaimed. "We forgot to tell you that the lab is off-limits on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons!"

"Yeah, that information could've been useful five minutes ago," Kougami mumbled.

Kagari squinted as he studied the dark-haired man's face a little more carefully. "You know, Kou-chan, you're making a real boring reaction. You should've seen Gino-san when _he_ first walked in on them."

"It was like he'd never seen a naked woman or two in his life," Sasayama added.

"Couldn't even look Kunicchi in the eye for a whole week," Kagari went on.

"It was hilarious, Karanomori kept bugging him about it and he nearly freaked out."

"I never really thought Gino-san was at all interesting until that point. Hey Kou-chan, you don't find any of this funny? Why are you looking at us like that?"

"Leave him alone, Kagari. It's a tasteless joke that only latent criminals will find amusement in. I bet Gino'll use that as his comeback, right?"

"Hey Kou-chan, is... is Gino-san right behind us?"

"Wait, are you serio- oh, _fuck_."

* * *

It was in the evening, when Kougami went out for a quick walk before wrapping up his work, that Ginoza joined him on the balcony, expression grim. "I heard that you've been... asking about Tsunemori," he began stiffly.

Kougami eyed him slightly warily. He hadn't considered speaking with the other Inspector, knowing the man's attitude concerning latent criminals and interacting. "Well, yes."

"Why?" Internally, he was panicking. _Is Inspector Kougami i- in l-l-love with Tsunemori? No, no, that's not possible, he's only known her for slightly more than a month- _

"I'm... she's an enigma to me, an interesting person. Also, she isn't one I'd peg for a latent criminal," he clarified hastily. Sadly, even to his own ears, it sounded like an excuse for some reason.

Ginoza grimaced, "Be careful. It's said that fools only learn from experience, while the wise learn from history. I hope you're not a fool, Kougami."

"They say that those who appear to be fools to others are only thought so because their own mentalities are misunderstood," he shot back, but in a calm manner.

"Tsunemori does not wish for her past to be brought up for any reason," he said warningly.

"I'd at least want to know the details so that I can _understand _her."

"Why do you want to understand her?"

"She's..." Kougami muttered something inaudible under his breath.

Ginoza felt an unsettling feeling in his stomach. "Do not try to understand her. Or you'll be dragged on the abyssal path she took, too," he snapped. He paused, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. There was a silence between them as Kougami tried to figure out his words and Ginoza tried to think of a way to shake Kougami off Akane's path.

"... Delete them after you're done," he ordered abruptly, manipulating his Communicator. Kougami blinked as his own popped up a window that informed him that he had been sent some files. When he opened them, Ginoza grit his teeth and strode away, leaving him alone of the balcony.

_Tsunemori Akane. Age 24. Former Inspector, demoted to Enforcer. _The system voice read aloud.

Kougami raised an eyebrow at the tidbit of information. "What...?"

_... Crime Coefficient formerly 32 average; after civilian casualty in Case Number A2718 of Funahara Yuki, her Crime Coefficient increased to 120. Was placed in the isolation facility two weeks later for neglecting her stress levels after refusing therapy and continuing to look over the case..._

He deleted it immediately.

"Former Inspector Tsunemori, was it?"

* * *

**ONE MORE THING GUYS. If anyone can guess the message behind the flowers Akane brought to Yuki's grave, we promise a sneak preview of the next chapter :D**

**An account name or tumblr username is needed so we can send it to you!**


	6. Abysmal Misunderstandings

**Pie: This chapter is just basically us trololing Unit 1 guys. In which being Sasayama is super duper suffering.**

**Wrath: Also have fun with a healthy dose of misunderstandings and drunk people bwahahaha**

* * *

Abysmal Misunderstandings

It was three in the afternoon when Ginoza walked into the office to begin his shift. Kougami was already there.

It was three in the afternoon, meaning half the enforcers were on their breaks. Sasayama had gone out to get coffee a few minutes ago.

It was three in the afternoon, with Kagari playing on his PZP in his chair and Tsunemori taking a nap at her desk.

It was thirty seconds after Ginoza had sat down, and had begun speculating about waking up Tsunemori to move her to a more comfortable area when Sasayama had walked back in the office, coffee in hand.

A full two minutes after that, Ginoza stood up and walked over to Tsunemori's desk, trying to not look nervous. Masaoka chuckling was not helping. "Oi, Tsunemori, you should go to a better place to nap," he muttered.

When she didn't respond, he gave her a fifteen-second reprieve before shaking her shoulder, "Oi, Tsunemori-"

"Five more minutes, Shogo-kun," she whispered rather audibly. Ginoza numbly nudged her again, not believing his ears. Tsunemori (still asleep) slapped his hand away. "Shogo-kun, five more minutes."

It was three minutes past three when the entirety of Unit 1 had froze in place, eyes staring in wide-eyed shock at Tsunemori Akane. The coffee in Sasayama's hand had slipped through his fingers and exploded onto the floor. No one cared- yet.

"Did she...?" Kagari began.

"Who's Shogo? I don't know a Shogo. When the hell was there a Shogo?" Sasayama blabbered.

Ginoza took a hesitant step away from Tsunemori and began looking around the room for a distraction. He saw his watering can and plants, a good reason to beat a hasty retreat away from Tsunemori's desk.

"Don't be so melodramatic, Sasayama," Ginoza said briskly, tipping the can over his cactus. "He's probably a co-worker from another Unit..."

"But Akane-chan's always been part of Unit 1!" Kagari argued.

"You're not helping, Kagari!" Sasayama snapped. "Hey old man, does 'Shogo' ring a bell to you?"

Masaoka rubbed his chin. "I can't say it does. But considering what ojou-chan said, it seems it's been a regular occurrence for her to wake up to this 'Shogo-kun.' Thing is, ojou-chan's an only child so rather than a relative, I think it's a friend she must've lived with at some point."

"You're making it _worse_, tottsan!" Sasayama groaned.

"Stop making everything an excuse to use your fake 'detective institution!'" Ginoza warned. "And Sasayama, clean up the coffee you spilt!"

"Oi Gino, you shouldn't yell at me when you're drowning your cactus!"

Ginoza had only just noticed that he was still pouring water over his plant. A lot of the water had spilt over the pot and across his table, soaking up his completed paperwork in the process.

Whilst he tried to save his submerged cactus, he was completely oblivious to Kunizuka's long stare. From her workstation, she watched the chaos unfold from just a name escaping Tsunemori's lips. To her surprise though, Kougami had just resumed his work instead of joining in the heated debate on who could be Shogo-kun.

She spun her chair to his direction.

"You don't seem very surprised," she pointed out. "Here I heard you were very interested in Tsunemori."

"Surprised about what? 'Shogo-kun?'" Kougami responded. "Yes, I'm interested in Tsunemori but it's completely... professional. I see no reason to be involved in her personal life."

Kunizuka raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound very convincing."

"It's the truth. She's an interesting person, and I was curious about her past."

"That sounds like it's going beyond professionalism."

"I meant her past as in how she worked."

"I _completely_ believe you."

Before Kougami could argue anymore though, a call from Shion beeped on his Communicator. The holo-hacker he had been tracking for the past few days had finally been located.

* * *

As he made a sharp turn towards a disused warehouse, Kougami lifted his Dominator up, as if the target might appear any second. He waited for a moment, before signalling Kagari to follow him closer to the building.

"This is Shepherd 2," Kougami reported to his Communicator. "Hound 3, do you copy?"

"This is Hound 3. I've arrived to the entry point with a drone," Sasayama responded. "Am all set to go." In the background, the Inspector heard a repeatedly-mumbled, "Who the _hell_ is Shogo?"

Kougami pressed his back against the wall, edging closer to a rusty door. "Remember, we're dealing with a hacker whose skilled in holo-cracking. We don't even know what kind of tricks or traps he could've set up in the building, so don't try breaking in. Wait until he's out and we'll arrest him there."

He received a snort of acknowledgement from the other end of the Communicator. Kagari gave the Inspector a thumbs up sign and poised his Dominator.

In just one minute later, Sasayama's voice abruptly flooded out a report. "Oi, Hound 3 here! Target's trying to escape as planned! He's heading your way!"

Kougami whipped his head round just to see the hacker stumble in view. He immediately took aim, letting the Dominator take a reading.

"Public Safety Bureau!" he warned. "Surrender, Cheshire Cat! You're surrou-" his voice trailed off when the target suddenly evaporated before his eyes.

He lowered his weapon and jerked his head around, searching madly. Kagari was doing the same but ended up turning back to Kougami with a confused expression.

"Eh, Kou-chan, am I drunk or is that street light turning purple?" Kagari asked.

Around the same time, Kougami realized that the paved floor beneath them was rippling like water. The few cars parked in the lot began hovering in the air, and all the buildings around them were swaying dangerously.

Sasayama staggered right in the spot the hacker was before he disappeared. He narrowly missed a falling pylon and scuttled over to regroup with his unit.

"I can't believe we're dealing with this trippy shit again," he groaned.

"It's just the scenery distorting," Kougami explained briefly. "Damn him. He managed to crack the street holography system."

Kagari waved his Dominator uselessly. "At this rate we're gonna lose our Cat! What now?"

"Hey hey, don't worry! Mitsuru-nii'll fix this up!" Sasayama assured, revealing a flask of alcohol from his pocket. "I swiped this from the old man's table."

He unscrewed the cap and began to take a swig of the drink.

"Spirytus? Oh, you're going to trigger the outdoor automated fire-fighting system with flames, just like indoors?" Kougami nodded his head in approval. "Good planning, Sasaya- look out!"

Kougami suddenly pushed Sasayama away from an advancing drone, causing him to accidentally swallow the alcohol he had in his mouth. He instantly began choking as the liquid burnt down his throat.

"_Fuck_! What was that for?" he spluttered.

The drone which Kougami had saw then melted away into a pool of pixels. He frowned at the illusion he just saw, staring at the rest of the distortion with weariness.

"Sorry, it was just a hologram," he muttered. "The target might still use them as a cover to attack us, so stay alert!" His eyes flitted over to Sasayama who really was not looking alert. "Oi, Sasayama, hurry up and activate the fire-fighting system!"

"Oh piss off, Kougami!" he moaned, clutching his head. "Goddamn it. This stuff is bloody strong."

"Spirytus's alcoholic content should be 96%," Kougami explained. "Even a mouthful is dangerous."

Kagari exasperated. "Yama-san! You're an old guy that's horrible with alcohol. Give it to me!" He was about to snatch the flask from Sasayama, but another pair of hands was quick to pry it off first.

"Kagari, you're not much better," Kougami pointed out flatly. Last night's dinner was a clear reminder that Kagari needed to stay away from any kind of spirits that'll turn him into a blabbering drunk. "I'll do it, it shouldn't be too hard right? Just have to spit out the Spirytus with some fire."

Hesitant at first, Kougami began filling his mouth with the alcohol.

"Kou-chan, look out!"

Kagari pushed Kougami hard enough for him to so sprawling over the floor, the mouthful of alcohol he had disappeared down his throat. Behind him, the outer wall of the building began crumbling, but evaporated before it touched the floor.

A sigh escaped Kagari. "Man, close call. Just another hologram. You okay there, Kou-chan?"

Kougami slowly crawled up from the floor. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's get this over with and catch the target." He took another swig of the flask and-

"Behind you, Kou-chan!"

Once again, Kagari violently shoved Kougami to safety. A hologram car dissolved into a street lamp, causing the young Enforcer to scratch the back of his head in confusion.

"Man, it's really hard to tell apart these holograms," he complained. "This Cat bastard is really playing with us. Come on, Kou-chan, let's end this!"

Meanwhilst, Kougami was making a poor attempt to recover from the second mouthful of Spirytus he swallowed. He managed to stand up again, but was severely off-balance and the rest of the flask's contents were spilt across the pavement.

"Shit, only two mouthfuls and I can barely think straight," Kougami grumbled. "Just let me rest for a moment, Kagari. I'll be okay… soon."

Next to him, an equally wasted Sasayama was chuckling. "Ha! Our hero Inspector Kou can barely handle two swigs, can he? What a joke! Listen man, you may be famous and all... but you can't beat a latent criminal at a drinking contest, y'hear me...?"

Kagari looked at both his seniors with a growing sense of despair.

"Er guys? You're not really drunk, are you?" he asked, almost nervously. "Because this Cheshire dude is going to disappear if we don't ca-"

"Hey Kagari! Kagariiiii!" Sasayama slurred. "Can't you see your senpais are talkin'? Kids these days have no manners..."

"Y-Yama-san?!"

Without warning, Sasayama collapsed into a graceful heap on the floor. Five seconds later Kougami followed suite.

"...is this seriously happening, man?"

* * *

As a result, Kagari ended up having to send a distress signal which would alert backup. Usually, this wouldn't be possible since there weren't enough people around to be backup- but Ginoza managed to drive over with the rest of Unit 1 to respond to Kagari's SOS.

When Kunizuka finally finished cleaning out the hacking, Ginoza, Tsunemori and Masaoka followed the distress signal to Kagari's location.

"Okay," Kagari began. "I know this looks bad but-"

"Are those two _drunk_?" Tsunemori stared with wide-eyes at the groaning men draped across the floor.

"Well, yeah," Kagari reluctantly admitted. "You see when-"

"How is it that _you're_ not drunk?" Ginoza demanded.

"Geez, Gino-san. Give me some credit here, I'm not that much of a trouble-maker," Kagari huffed. "As I was saying..."

* * *

_Because of the Inspector (Kougami Shinya) in charge of supervising the operation having been incapacitated due to unforeseen circumstances, the criminal ("Cheshire Cat") managed to escape._

Tsunemori finished typing up the sentence and passed the laptop back to Kagari. "There, something to help you start the report," she said. "For Inspector Kougami's and Sasayama-san's sake, try to avoid the specifics of the 'unforeseen circumstances.'"

"But that's the fun part," Kagari wailed. "It's my one time showing off in front of Yama-san and Kou-chan."

She rolled her eyes but Masaoka was still trying to stifle back his laughter. He -as the veteran fire-bender- found the entire situation entertaining and hadn't looked so cheered up since Ginoza accidentally gave him chocolates on Valentines Day.

The police van parked outside NONA tower, with Masaoka and Kagari dragging a half-conscious Sasayama down the steps. By the time they managed to haul him to the entrance, Tsunemori noticed that their Inspectors hadn't joined them.

She glanced over her shoulder to see Ginoza's car swerve round and join the main road again.

"Looks like Ginoza is giving our drunk new Inspector a ride home," Kunizuka pointed out.

Tsunemori furrowed her eyebrows. "Well, that'd make sense but... how is Inspector Ginoza going to carry Inspector Kougami on his own?"

There was no argument that Ginoza wasn't exactly in best shape when it came to lifting things. When an adult man was thrown into the mess, then things were getting more difficult.

"Well, this is going to be hilarious," Kunizuka deadpanned, and joined the male Enforcers inside the tower.

* * *

And well, it was hilarious.

From the bystanders' view as they watched a slender, bespectacled man attempt to half-carry, half-drag out a drunkard from his car.

"Pull yourself together, Kougami!" Ginoza hissed, the urge to slap his co-worker conscious rising dangerously. "We're at your home. Now walk!"

Kougami was successfully unpeeled from the car seat and spread over the sidewalk. Ginoza tried to ignore the pointing fingers and whispers around him. Thank god nobody in the neighbourhood would recognize him.

He yanked on Kougami's arm, as indication to the drunkard to get up.

"I can't believe you managed to get drunk on a mission," he sighed. "And that you managed to keep Kagari sober."

Kougami mumbled something incoherently under his breath but didn't move from the floor.

"Well, at least you're not a talking drunk," Ginoza said, rubbing his temples. "Unlike those wild latent criminals." Saying that, he had never seen Kunizuka touch alcohol, and Tsunemori was a whole different story.

"Give me some time, I'll be able to get up on my own," Kougami managed to string out.

"I wish that was the case," Ginoza sniffed. "But I'm not so blind to see that you're absolutely out of it. Just how much did you drink, you crazy fool?"

Kougami's disheveled appearance was attracting a growing crowd which Ginoza really wished he wasn't in the middle of.

"Okay, rest time is over. We're _moving_!" he gave Kougami's arm another stubborn tug, forcing his fellow Inspector on his feet, and begin a slow march.

Fifteen steps later, Kougami slipped from Ginoza's grasp and staggered against a wall, trying to stop the hurricane scrambling the inside of his head. Ginoza was beating some feeling back in his shoulder after it had strained under supporting Kougami's bulky weight.

It was a pretty 'hilarious' sight.

Ginoza was tempted to leave drunk Kougami to his own devices but knew it would only worry Tsunemori.

"What year is it, Ginoza?" Kougami suddenly asked.

"Why do you want to know the year?"

"Because I can't remember if it's the leap year or not."

Ginoza wanted to run his head through the wall. This was seriously not part of the job description, damn it. He just wished that one of these unhelpful bystanders would recognize Kougami and take him off his hands already.

"Just what kind of crazy party did you get smashed in, Shin?"

And his prayers were answered.

A long-haired man was standing not too far from Ginoza. Well, Ginoza thought he was a man.

"You a friend of Shin's?" the stranger asked.

"Co-worker," Ginoza corrected.

"Close enough, I see you're trying to take him home," the stranger nodded, taking a few steps closer. "I was planning to have some late lunch with him but it looks like he needs a time out. What happened?"

Well, telling a civilian that a policeman got hammered on the job was not really spreading a great public image of law enforcement.

"It's a long story," Ginoza replied. He kinda sucked when it came to improvising lies.

Fortunately, the stranger didn't seem to mind. He nodded again casually, before taking one of Kougami's arms and wrapping it over his shoulder. He then wrinkled his nose when he managed to pick up a scent on his friend's breath.

"Ayano is going to have a laughing fit when she finds out you nearly passed out drunk in your own neighbourhood," the stranger prompted. He then turned his attention to Ginoza. "Well, I guess I should thank you for bringing him this far. I'll take it from here."

Ginoza belatedly made himself presentable. After his disastrous random act of kindness to Kougami, his suit got a little rumpled.

"Akito, my head hurts," Kougami mumbled. "Did you punch it?"

"Nah, I kicked it," the stranger replied tonelessly. "Good-bye then, Inspector."

Ginoza frowned at the title, since he hadn't shared his name with the long-haired man. Though, if he was a friend of Kougami's, he'd probably deduce quite easily what kind of co-worker Ginoza was.

And damn, his shoulder hurt. Either Kougami needed to lose weight or Ginoza needed to start lifting some.

* * *

The next morning, Kougami walked into the NONA lobby with a light headache- Akito had somehow found out about his drinking incident and left Saiga-sensei's hangover remedy at his bedside, so it wasn't too horrible of a hangover. However, the pounding inside his head intensified the moment he entered the building. "Waaaaah! Okaa-san, I wan' my mommy!" a little girl sobbed on the floor, shocked MWPSB workers uncertain of what to do.

The loud noise was killing his head. Getting as close as he could while rubbing his forehead, he asked, "Who's your mommy, little girl?" he asked kindly, crouching near the child and trying not to flinch at her loud cries.

The girl sobbed something inaudible, so Kougami just gave up. "Come on, kiddo. I'll take you to someone who can find your mom, okay? What is your name?"

"... Nami..." she sniffled.

"Okay, Nami-chan, just follow me, okay?" he walked slowly towards the elevators so the girl could trot next to him. He'd take her to Karanomori- the analyst was probably one of those women who could take care of children without wanting to slam their heads into a convenient wall.

They rode the lift to his floor, and he promptly beelined for Karanomori's office. "Oh, good morning, Inspector- is that a little girl?" The blonde swung off her chair and walked around the couch to squat in front of the child. "Aww, you're such a cutie! But what's wrong?"

"She was crying in the lobby when I walked in. It's been like this since I came in, and no one else apparently wanted to deal with a child, so I took her here. She's looking for her mom," Kougami informed briefly, setting his briefcase down. "Her name is Nami."

The woman giggled, patting the top of Nami's head. "A kid all alone in a place like this? There must be some special circumstances surrounding her, then! This totally looks like fun!"

Well, he couldn't really have expected a normal reaction, could he? "Your motives are worrying," he deadpanned.

"No way, Inspector! I'll take care of her purely from the goodness of my heart, I swear!" she protested laughingly, holding her hands out for Nami to play with. "Maa, it's been awhile since I last saw a child..." she trailed off nostalgically.

"Should I just leave her here for now? I don't think she would enjoy being inside the office," Kougami asked. "Anyway, Nami-chan, what's your mommy's name?"

"We should be able to figure out her mother's identity now that she's much more calm than when you first brought her in," Shion stated briskly, standing up. "So, little girl? Who's your mommy?"

Nami was silent for a moment before Shinya repeated the question. "Tsu..." she piped up hesitantly.

"Well, look at what we have here. Inspector, I think you're a natural with kids!" Karanomori smiled.

Kougami looked uncomfortable for a minute. "I used to take care of my younger cousins. So, Nami-chan, what does your mommy look like? What color is her hair?"

Nami stumbled over some of her words, "Tsuna..."

"Hm?"

"Tsuna... and short brown hair..." she described.

The CID personnel exchanged an incredulous glance. "Tsuna, and short brown hair, you say?" Shion repeated.

"Karanomori, could it be-"

"Hmm... Akane-chan is an Enforcer though, unless this child is really hers and went looking for her long-lost mother," she thought aloud. "I can't think of anyone else in the Bureau that fits that description. I entertained the thought that she might be the child of someone I know, but this..."

She was interrupted by her Communicator ringing furiously. "Hello, Karanomori here~ Yes, I finished analyzing the data... You need it urgently? Okay, I'll bring it over." The blonde hung up and looked over at Kougami. "Inspector, I'm sorry, but I have to go bring the analyzed data to Unit 2 on short notice. Could you look after her for a while?"

He shrugged. "I should be able to manage. It's not like she's a handful."

The analyst patted Nami's hair one last time. "Great! I'll be back!" Her heels clicked against the floor and the she was gone, with the doors sliding shut behind her.

"To think that she had an illegitimate child, though..." a thought occurred to him. "Nami-chan, how old are you?"

The little girl paused, sticking up her fist and then holding up five fingers. "Five."

It was only shock that caused him to yell. Nothing more. "Tsunemori got pregnant at _nineteen?!_" he sputtered.

Unfortunately, the doors slid open right then. Even worse, it was Sasayama, smoking a cigarette. "Hey there, Inspector. Who got knocked up at nineteen?" Kougami maintained silence, aware of the ruckus Sasayama would cause if he repeated his realization. "Inspector?"

Kougami glanced wearily at Nami. He knew that letting more people know her identity would only put Tsunemori in a bad position. He hastily ruffled her head in what he hoped seemed like a familiar manner.

"This is… well, Nami. I'm friends with her father," he grounded out.

Nami let a deep frown show on her face. Sasayama of course saw that she was confused with Kougami's answer, so he bent down to take a closer look at the girl.

"Seems like you're lying, Inspector," he said. "Who are you, kiddo? Why are you here?"

She clung onto Kougami's trouser leg as the Enforcer got to eye-level with her. "Nami's looking for her Mommy."

"Aaand who's your mommy?"

Before Nami could open her mouth to speak, Kougami let out a loud cough. "Say, Sasayama. What brings you here?"

"Hmm?" Sasayama's attention switched back to his Inspector. "To get a cigarette off Shion-sensei. I ran out and since we use the same brand… wait, are you trying to _distract_ me?"

Kougami was about to correct him but Sasayama's eyes widened with sudden realization and got up from the floor to give Kougami a friendly punch in the shoulder.

"Inspector, you sly dog!" he chuckled. "So this kiddo is yours, right?"

"Wait. Wha-?"

"You mentioned someone getting knocked up at 19… was that you? Wow, you had her young!" he whistled. His eyes glinted with potential blackmail material.

However, his theory was immediately refuted by Nami. "Mister isn't Nami's papa!" she argued. "Papa has glasses!"

Sasayama blinked. A strangled noise spluttering from his throat. "Wh-_What_? You're not saying-"

"Don't say it," Kougami facepalmed.

"But wait- I thought- you can't be serious!" Sasayama stammered. "To think it's Gino!"

Of course, the doors had to hiss open at that moment, and to Kougami's horror it was Masaoka next to enter the room.

He gave his two co-workers an amiable smile. "What about Nobu?" He quickly noticed the child and leaned forward a little to see her face, which was still half-hidden behind Kougami's leg. "And who is this little lady?"

Sasayama made wild motions towards the girl. "Tottsan! You don't know this Nami girl?" he demanded. "I can't believe Gino's heartless enough not to tell you that he had a kid!"

Kougami wished he had a Dominator to shut Sasayama up with. Whilst Masaoka had froze up from what he had just heard, staring at the girl in wide-eyed shock. A few moments later, after it all finally sunk in, tears began leaking from the corner of his eyes.

He furiously rubbed at his face and turned away from the three.

"I… I… I have a grandchild," he mumbled to himself. "Nobuchika, I am so proud of you…"

At first, Kougami was still wishing for a Dominator, but then Masaoka's words rang like an alarm in his ears.

"Wait, did you just say _grandchild_?" he emphasized the word. "You're Inspector Ginoza's _father_?"

Masaoka turned a little, still wiping away at his damp eyes with his sleeve. "Why, yes. It's a touchy subject to him but he is my son."

Things were not going well at all.

Kougami rubbed his forehead, feeling that his hangover was getting worse.

"Say," Sasayama abruptly said. "Who is the mother?"

"Oh yes, I certainly want to know who my lovely daughter-in-law is," Masaoka said eagerly. He lowered himself on one knee so he was facing Nami properly. "Nami-chan, right? Who would be your mother?"

Nami was hesitant at first. "Ah, Tsu-"

A large cough cut her off. Kougami pushed Nami behind him so he was at attention of Masaoka. "What did you come here for, Masaoka-san?"

"Now, Inspector Kou," the older Enforcer said leisurely. "You should let this old man get to know his family better."

Things were _really _going not well at all.

"Nami-chan?" Masaoka called out to the girl. "Who is your mother?"

"Tsun..." she mumbled, but shyness got the better of her with all the new strangers, and buried her face into Kougami's leg again.

That one syllable was enough to worsen Kougami's hangover headache even more and completely silence the two Enforcers. Sasayama opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

The deafening quiet was eventually broken by Masaoka. "Tsun... emori?" he said, sounding uncharacteristically unsure.

"_Shit_. Is this for real?" Sasayama whispered.

"Don't swear in front of a child, Sasayama," Kougami said tonelessly.

Nami tugged on his jacket. "What does shit mean?"

Masaoka temporarily escaped his stupor. "Don't swear in front of my granddaughter!" his expression changed for a moment. "... Well, way back when, ojou-chan and Nobuchika were close, I suppose... but..."

The moment he heard the door hissing open yet _again_, Kougami felt a sudden urge to commit vandalism via banging his head on the wall. "Eh? Why's everyone here?" Kagari questioned immediately. "And where's Sensei?"

"Ah, Kagari!" Masaoka greeted. "Meet my grandchild!"

The orange-haired man blinked, an eventual frown creasing his face. "But I thought Gino-san was a 1000% virgin!" he protested. "And which poor lady would get willingly knocked up by Gino-san?"

In the corner, Sasayama had become very, very still. "I- I can't believe that Akane-chan- _Gino_," he muttered brokenly. "It's impossible it's not possible-"

Kagari crouched next to Masaoka, peering at the girl half-hidden behind the Inspector. "Hey, little girl. Who's your dad?" he asked for confirmation. "Is his name Ginoza Nobuchika?"

"Papa... papa wa... Sho!"

Kougami stiffened and promptly began considering just fleeing the room with the little girl before someone could remember yesterda-

"Sho?!" Sasayama reacted without thinking. "No, no _no _this is worse than Gino-"

Whilst he drowned in a pit of despair, Masaoka broke out of his sunny state. "Wait, what do you mean? Sho?"

Of course, Kagari was completely lost in the conversation. He was trying to process the Enforcers' reactions too quickly, causing him to wrinkle his brow. "Wait, Sho? What does that have to do with Gino-san then? Is Sho and Gino-san together?"

Kougami began measuring the time it would it take for him to fly out the emergency exit.

"But wait, I thought Sho was Akane-chan's friend? Whose kid is this? Is she really the reason Gino-san is no longer 1000% virgin?" Kagari's mind had obviously overloaded.

Next to him, Masaoka was not doing much better. "So… is she not really my granddaughter? This isn't Nobu's child?"

Of course the doors had to open again. Of _course_.

Kougami made a rare prayer to whatever sadistic deity was watching him today and hoped that it was Shion returning, so she could give Sasayama a cigarette to cheer him up and get rid of everyone else. But apparently, the sadistic deity was not bloody done yet.

Enforcer Tsunemori entered the lab.

"Nobu's child…" she echoed. "What are you all talking about?"

The last person Kougami wanted to see at the very moment was standing just a few metres from him, with her eyes already pinned on Nami.

"Ah, Nami," she acknowledged.

"Listen Tsunemori," Kougami began hastily. "I'm sorry, but things got out of hand and-"

"Mommy!"

Nami released her hold on Kougami's trouser leg and went scrambling towards Tsunemori's direction. Sasayama collapsed onto his knees as the little girl passed him, Kagari's jaw had completely unhinged itself and Masaoka was holding onto a sliver of hope.

Before Kougami could curse himself for not being able to contain his subordinate's secret in front of nearly the entire unit, Nami rushed _past_ Tsunemori and threw herself into the arms into a woman Kougami had never seen before.

Everyone stared at the stranger with dumbfounded expressions.

The woman noticed the stares but could only nod shyly at them. "Thank-you for taking care for my daughter, I shouldn't have let her out of my sight." She then smiled graciously at Tsunemori. "And thank-_you_ for bringing me here."

"No problem, Tsunade-san," Tsunemori said courteously. "And please give my regards to your husband, Inspector Shoichi."

They exchanged a few more parting words, with Nami content in her mother's embrace. Tsunemori waved them off politely, the doors closing shut behind the guests. She finally turned round to properly greet her co-workers only to see they were really not interested in anything at the moment.

The always cheerful Masaoka-san looked absolutely heartbroken and had taken himself onto a sofa chair by himself, silently wallowing in his broken false hopes. Sasayama had not moved from his spot on the floor, body frozen in a mental overload. Kagari had given up trying to figure out what the hell was happening and resigned to a spinning chair.

She looked to her Inspector for some kind of answer. "Inspector Kougami, what happened? And what were you saying about Inspector Ginoza's child?"

"...it's nothing," Kougami mumbled. "Just don't mention this to Ginoza."

He staggered out of the room, brain half thinking about calling Akito to either drop off more hangover remedy or knock him out so he could quietly die in his apartment.

* * *

It was a week after the Nami Incident (which he privately addressed the misunderstandings as) that Kougami, on his break, finally found his way towards the exercise rooms, where it seemed that every latent criminal in the CID had gathered, crowding around a squareish area and yelling names loudly. "Go, Akane-chan!" Kagari's distinctively peppy voice cheered.

"Come on, Chang, get 'er!" another person called back.

Kougami raised an eyebrow. He had heard of the so-called MMA tournament that the latent criminals held at the end of each month- for reasons he did not know. His lack of interest in competitive sport was the main reason he had never visited the hall before.

Someone yanked on his arm.

"Hey Inspector, what are you doing here?" Sasayama welcomed him. "It's nice to see you, I guess. Come here to bet on Akane-chan?"

Whilst Kougami was dragged closer to the spectating crowd, he stared at them with a slight frown. "Betting? You all run a betting pool?" he said incredulously. "How legal is this, exactly?"

Another voice butted in. "Pretty illegal, Kou-chan. But we're all latent criminals so what's stopping us?" Kagari waved an arm at the holo-chart tallying all the Enforcers' votes. "Come on, you should try it! More money for the pot."

"Pardon me, Kagari, but I don't exactly feel inclined to losing my money in such obvious betting," Kougami rejected. "Besides, I don't know a lot of the competitors here."

Behind him, he faintly heard Kunizuka mutter, "Boring."

"Then just bet for Akane-chan! It's a default for our unit," Kagari persisted.

"What martial arts does Tsunemori know anyway?" Kougami quickly asked, to change the subject.

The woman in question was circling the stage, facing a much smaller opponent with a stiff guard. They were engaged in a complete different world from the eager cries of encouragement around them.

Kagari scratched the back of his neck. "Eh, I'm not sure. Apparently she had Tottsan teach her judo, and there's one other.."

"Masaoka-san taught her judo? I wonder how skilled she is at it..." he pondered.

Sasayama injected, "It doesn't matter since she can _kick ass_ with it."

Kagari cut in. "Heh, how many times has she kicked your ass with it, Yama-san?"

"Shut up, Kagari. You can't even beat _me_ anyways."

The two Enforcers rapidly entered a spitfire argument over who had the higher win record. Their Inspector was long forgotten in the midst of it, so he turned his attention back to the stage, only to find it had already emptied and half the crowd had dissolved, regrouping again at the holo-chart to claim their prizes from the bet.

"Inspector, what are you doing here?" Tsunemori asked, appearing almost suddenly next to him, towelling off the sweat.

Kougami blinked in surprise. "Tsunemori, who won?"

"Oh, I did. But Mei-san is quite a fighter with her Shaolin, she almost got one of my ribs back there," she replied distantly. "I only barely scraped this win."

"Er… congratulations?"

"Thank-you, but what are you doing here exactly, Inspector?"

What _was_ he doing here exactly?

"I suppose I came to see how good the training facilities are," Kougami decided with.

Behind him, Kunizuka again muttered something, this time, vaguely sounding like, "that excuse is worse than _Ginoza's_."

He did not like the sound of that.

"Inspector, do you happen to know any fighting styles of any kind?" Tsunemori asked, diverting the subject.

Of course Kunizuka decided that it was not enough to leave biting comments behind Kougami, and moved her way to the side of him. "According to his records, Inspector here knows kickboxing. I wonder how well he'd fare against you."

Before Kougami could say anything in protest, Kagari _of course _had to pipe in. "Oh! I wanna see Akane-chan beat up Kou-chan!"

"Having an Inspector on stage is something knew," Sasayama whistled. "I'd totally bet in this game." He then turned to his fellow Enforcers by the holo-chart. "Hey, new game!"

Kougami took a step forward. "Wait, _no_ game!"

"Inspector Kou against Akane-chan! Place your bets!" Kagari hollered over him, diving straight into the crowd to extend his advertisement. "Unit 1 special game! Inspector Kou vs Akane-chaaan!"

Murmurs rippled through the training hall, with dozens of eyes flitting towards Inspector Kou's direction. He wasn't sure how to feel seeing so many of them assemble to the holo-chart, and that Kunizuka had decided to hover over and help count the new stream of bets. He turned to Tsunemori, who looked a little sheepish about the situation.

She gave him a meek smile. "They enjoy watching new people on the stage. Especially since there hasn't been many kickboxers here before."

"You're not serious, are you?" Kougami began.

"Only if you are willing, Inspector," she reasoned. "I assure you the outcome will not affect us professionally, this is afterall just for stress relief- and for fun."

"Come on, Inspector!" Sasayama urged, ready to push him to the direction of the stage. "Everything's ready!"

Bets were already piling up and the audience was waiting.

"I don't really think it's a good idea," Kougami sighed. "And besides, Tsunemori just had a match, she's probably tired-"

"If you're scared that Akane might beat the crap out of you then don't worry, no one is going to make fun of you because of it," Sasayama assured. "Besides Kagari, because he's a little bastard."

Kougami felt an eye twitch. "No, that's not it-"

"You can't hit a girl? Hey, I know how you feel, I freaking love women," Sasayama said with an all-knowing grin. "But don't worry, we have chest guards, helmets and all that jazz. Suit you and Akane up and no one feels a thing."

"Damn it, Sasayama. I just don't-"

"Oh yeah, you probably haven't warmed up yet," Sasayama noted. "I guess we can give you five minutes to prepare."

He buzzed away in search for some safety equipment whilst Kougami sighed in defeat.

"I honestly didn't like this at first," Tsunemori abruptly said. "I didn't like competition of any kind, you see. I enjoy it now and makes better fighting experience over combat drones. But if you'd rather not, I'll cancel this match for you, everyone will understand."

Kougami glanced over at her. "I'm a sore loser so I usually don't get involved in anything which can get me competitive."

"That's interesting, considering you are a police officer," she pointed out. "How about, I treat you to lunch if I win? And if you win, vise versa."

"So the winner buys lunch? Doesn't seem much like an incentive."

"Other than glory?"

Tsunemori waited patiently, making no move to leave the training hall or prepare for the next battle their Unit was voluntarily setting up. Obviously, she wanted to see if Kougami was going to change his mind or not. He knew that despite her slight appearance, she was an efficient fighter, he also knew that it had been awhile since he had a real fight with someone.

Five minutes later, his tie and suit jacket was dumped in the corner of the stage and he was stretching his legs. He resisted another sigh when he heard Kagari yell out 'Kick the Inspector's ass, Akane-chan!'

Kunizuka brought over a training shirt which he and Akane would have to wear over their chests. It was the first time Kougami saw the Enforcer-issued guard and quickly concluded that it'd be too uncomfortable to wear his shirt under it.

When he finished unbuttoning it and setting the shirt aside, he did not expect an choir of _wolf-whistles_ from quite a few female Enforcers- and some male.

"Look at his arms," he heard one giggle.

Another voice whistled again, "You think he's okay with BDSM?"

"Too bad he has to wear a training shirt over those abs," a third whispered not-so-quietly.

Kougami managed to maintain a flat expression (only a twitch of his eyebrow displayed his alarm) as he accepted the shirt from Kunizuka. Tsunemori was still wearing hers from the previous match and ended up waiting as he fastened all the straps.

"You know, Inspector," she said whilst he was adjusting. "You could have gone to the side room to change."

He paused in the middle of pulling another clasp. "...what?"

"Also, I must admit your physique is… impressive," this was said with a completely straight face.

"..._what_?!" He- was she _hitting on him-_ _no, she's probably being nice. Don't even think of going there._

Tsunemori took a few steps back so she was standing at her designated spot in the stage. Kougami tugged on the final strap and shuffled to his, holding his arms up close to his head with his hands in tight fists. The brunette, on the other end of the ring, kept her arms loosely by her sides.

Before he could fully slip into his fighting mindset, there was a crackle and Kagari's voice came over the speakers. "Aaaaand here we have Unit One's own Inspector Kou, using kickboxing, versus the awesome Tsunemori 'Slams' Akane-chaaan with Tottsan's judo! Starting in THREE, TWO, ONE-"

Kagari, who had commandeered the microphone in order to act as an impromptu announcer, dropped his hand, causing the two to begin circling each other warily. Kougami eyed her stance, finding no holes in her guard that he could use the break through. Judo, he recalled, was a defensive, countering style. And Tsunemori clearly had patience in spades, so it wasn't like he could outwait her and take advantage of that.

After a restless wait for the other to move first, the crowd starting muttering, and the numbers of bets increased. Tsunemori shifted lightly on her feet, ready to lash back at a moment's notice.

A tense second later, Kougami lunged forward, smashing through her guard with a well-placed kick. She dodged beneath him before his kick could connect fully, and grabbed him leg, twisting her arms to lock around it.

He didn't allow her to throw him though, turning his body sharply and knocking her from under him, grabbing Tsunemori by the collar of her training shirt and bringing her against the mats covering the stage, a knee on her stomach to pin her down.

The crowd waited for Kagari's ten-count, Tsunemori nearly wrangling from under him, but when Kagari dropped his hand again at ten, he declared, "First round to Kou-chan~!"

Somewhat surprisingly, the crowd murmured and yet no-one went to try to change their bets.

Kougami got off of the Enforcer, and returned to his corner. There were two minutes between each round, and he simply stretched his back to lumber up a bit more. On the other hand, Tsunemori seemed to be muttering to herself, her hands moving in circular patterns.

They were prepared for Kagari's "ROUND STAAAART!" Tsunemori not wasting a moment this time and darting towards Kougami, dodging his counter punch and bringing up her knee to block the other fist. He grimaced, left hand shooting through with pain and he barely managed to shake out of her grip and narrowly miss being tossed to the ground. She caught his responded side-kick at her hip, the glancing blow knocking her back a bit. Before she could recover, Kougami full-body tackled her, pressing her against the mat as Kagari began counting again.

"You're holding back, aren't you?" he questioned. For a split second, there was a flash of grimace on her lips, but it disappeared just as quickly. "Why? Judging by the way you move, you're more skilled at something other than judo, which you're still a novice at."

"Your observation skills are astounding, Inspector," she replied briefly.

He was still on top of her, but the other matter at hand caused him to dismiss their positions momentarily. "Why don't you fight me seriously?" Kougami suggested.

"Hey, it seems that Kou-chan's trying to convince Akane-chan to fight him seriously!" Kagari pointed out. The assembled latent criminals murmured amongst themselves, traces of excitement humming through the crowd.

In the midst of somewhat serious discussions, Sasayama hollered from the edge of the stage, "Oi, Inspector! How long are you going to grope Akane for?! _I _haven't even touched her yet!"

All somewhat serious discussions died, eyes were either flitting towards Sasayama or to the two fighters on stage. It had only just occurred to them that Kougami still had Tsunemori pinned to the floor.

Kagari lifted the mic up. "Aaand Yama-san decides to confuse the situation by making a really stupid comment! Ehh? Do I see Akane-chan blush- OW!"

He gingerly touched a sore spot at the back of his head. He whipped round to see Kunizuka with a tablet tucked under her arm.

"What was that for?" he hissed.

"If you're going to commentate, do it properly."

Kougami gingerly rolled away from Tsunemori, who sat up at once and glanced at Sasayama. Though he didn't quite see her expression, he did indeed witness the pained grimace that the male enforcer now wore. "Kagari," she called abruptly. "I'm going seriously on him now."

Thankfully, they both chose to ignore Sasayama's statement.

"Eeeeeh?! Okay then- People, the competition is now Kou-chan's kickboxing versus Akane-chan's pancake silat thingie! On three-" Kagari declared, holding up his hand above his head, displaying three fingers.

"Pancake- Pencak Silat? Where'd you learn _that _style?" Kougami asked, semi-bewildered as Kagari's hand dropped to signal the third round. He didn't recall that one on the list of Sibyl-approved martial arts available to learn at a fitness center or during training school. Hell- he was pretty sure learning it had been on Akito's list of illegal things to do.

Tsunemori closed her eyes, breathing softly for a few moments, her hands beginning to move in circular patterns. "Who cares where she learned it when she can kick ass with it?" an Enforcer near Kougami's side muttered.

Eyes still closed, she shuffled toward the center of the ring. The spectators' voices had fallen in volume, and in response, Kougami inched towards his opponent.

The moment Tsunemori darted forward, her eyes flashed open, and Kougami almost, _almost_ flinched at the blankness. _When she was using judo_, he analyzed whilst trying to fend off the scarily accurate strikes, _she seemed the same as usual- pencak silat on the other hand turns her into something else-_

Her fingers went towards his neck, and he only managed to sidestep away. Tsunemori "fighting seriously" apparently meant Tsunemori "fighting to maim or kill".

Not to be outdone, he tried to sweep her legs from under her again, but Tsunemori leapt up and her foot lashed at his solar plexus, knocking him back. A palm at his chest and a fist raised if he tried to get away wasn't what froze him.

Her eyes looked like they belonged to someone else.

Kagari muttered a, "Three." Seeing Akane-chan fight with her pancake style was always really scary- it reminded them that there was a section of her past that was, simply put, _fucked up._ "Round oveeeeeer!"

Tsunemori stood up and stalked to her corner, swinging her arms and cracking her neck. The Inspector winced, rubbing his solar plexus on the way back to his section of the stage. She hit _hard._

"Round Four STAAAART!"

This time Tsunemori didn't even let him as much breathe, darting in from the side and corkscrewing her body, twisting her legs around his, tossing him to the ground with an elbow to the throat.

Someone in the crowd whistled.

Kagari's eye twitched - man, Inspector Kou was REALLY getting his ass handed to him.

Fifth round, their last chance. Kougami took the initiative this time, charging and punching straight at her. The woman ducked and dodged with ease, flinty eyes unwavering. Then she caught his fist with a deceptively small hand, applying pressure to force him backward to knock him to the floor, twisting his arm around his back at the same time.

"Round Five to Akane-chan- And Akane-chan wins the game!" Kagari hopped off his seat and joined the other latent criminals streaming towards the betting area.

Tsunemori held him down for a few moments longer, until she mouthed some words and shook her head, eyes returning to normal. "I apologize, Inspector," she said. "I seem to have a competitive streak as well." This was conveyed with the barest of smiles.

Kougami got up and stretched his arms, trying to focus on something other than the frightening side of Tsunemori he had just witnessed. "It's all fine. That fight was worth itself."

"Thank-you." There was a brief pause, "You fight rather well yourself."

He had an unsettling feeling that she had just compared him to someone else that she had once fought.

"So, when are you free?" she abruptly asked.

Kougami blinked several times. "When I'm free…?"

"We did agree that the winner buys lunch," she reminded with a casual smile. "Though, as an Enforcer, I don't have many places to recommend you to."

He shrugged. "Well, since I'm an Inspector, I could let you… pick a place to eat outside. I might as well make this free meal ticket worthwhile."

An emotion he couldn't quite place flickered across her face.

"Is that pushing it?" he asked.

"No no, I would love to eat outside," she hastily corrected. "Although, the places that I used to eat at are associated with memories I would prefer to not recall. Though I did hear a new cafe has opened up at the next town."

"Agreed, then-"

"Hey, Inspector Kou, that's so not cool!" Sasayama hopped onto the stage. "Are you asking Akane-chan on a _date_?!"

Tsunemori's eyes suddenly shifted to hard flint, and she spun around, kicking her co-worker squarely on his tailbone.

Sasayama dropped like a rock.

"So I heard something about you wishing to touch me inappropriately, Enforcer Sasayama?"

"SHIT."

Kougami couldn't take his eyes off of the amusing sight of Tsunemori thrashing Sasayama with an exasperated expression.

Off to the side, Kagari grumbled and handed Kunizuka a wad of cash for winning the bet about Akane-chan beating up Yama-san after her match with Kou-chan.

* * *

**OMAKE-PASS**

It was considered an unwritten protocol for Inspectors to make two full-scan Crime Coefficient readings a day and act accordingly via therapy depending on the results. Most preferred to do this in the presence of a therapist, but Kougami only scheduled weekly sessions with his. Thus he took most of his CC readings alone.

He stared at his Hue colour and the number next to it. He ignored Kagari who was peering over his shoulder.

"Kou-chan, your CC went up by 13 points!" he exclaimed. "You okay?"

Kougami turned off his Communicator and resumed his paperwork. "Other than random female Enforcers wanting to jump me, I'm okay," he muttered.

His answer was not received well by Sasayama who dropped the file he was skimming through and wheeled his chair to the Inspector's direction. "And how's that a bad thing?" he asked, poorly hiding his disbelief.

"Not everyone is a horn dog like you, Sasayama," Kougami quipped, reaching for his coffee.

Kagari absorbed the information, he nodded slowly but then snapped up in revelation. "Wait, Inspector! Are you gay?"

Kougami choked on the coffee.

No one else in the office spoke. Usually Tsunemori or Masaoka would fix the office atmosphere quickly, but neither of them were present at the moment.

Ginoza finally cracked the muted room muttering "I'll pretend I didn't hear anything" and began polishing his glasses.

"You're wrong, Kagari," Kunizuka blurted out. "He probably just wants to reserve "being jumped on" by Tsunemori."

Ginoza began polishing his glasses faster.

"Oooh? No, no, dear Yayoi," Shion cooed, from the empty desk next to the Enforcer. "_Ginoza-kun_ is the one who wants to be jumped on by Akane-chan even more."

Ginoza dropped his glasses.

"All of you shut up or I'll cut your pay cheques in half!" he snapped.

* * *

**Pie: COMPLIMENTING ON SOMEONE'S PHYSIQUE USUALLY GOES BEYOND 'JUST BEING NICE' KOU. Oh, and new arc starts next chapter, guys! We've decided to try out an update schedule of every other Wednesday or Thursday. So, see you all in 2 weeks!**

**Wrath: So far has been happytiems. I hope you enjoyed these, because next arc is when everything falls off a cliff. Urobutcher has been rubbing off on us.**

**Review?**


End file.
